NCGA Match Play: Ban and Anthony Advance, Tilly Upset

PEBBLE BEACH, California (August 16, 2017) -- Defending champion Shintaro Ban and NCGA Player of the Year points leader Jason Anthony are among those still kicking in the brackets after a long Wednesday at par-72 Spyglass Hill.

No. 1 seed Finigan Tilly of Cal, who set a record with his stroke play qualifying score of 10-under 134, was not as fortunate. He would fall, 4&3, in the Round of 16 to No. 17 Bryan Baumgarten.

Related: Tilly is Medalist as Bracket is Set at NCGA Match Play

Ban, a senior at UNLV, and Anthony, who’s coming off a win at the recent NCGA Valley Amateur, punched their tickets to the quarterfinals of this week’s annual NCGA Amateur Match Play Championship, earning 5&4 and 4&2 victories, respectively, in the Round of 16.

Looking to become the first repeat champion since John Catlin in 2011, the No. 3 seeded Ban will next take on No. 11 Matt Cohn. Cohn, who opened the day by dispatching Four-Ball partner and friend Nick Moore 2 up in the Round of 32, is no stranger to taking on the big name. In 2015, the San Francisco resident reached the finals before falling to eventual champion Maverick McNealy.

The No. 28 seed Anthony, who had to survive a playoff to just get into the match play brackets, started his day with a tight 1 up win. In the afternoon, the Green Valley CC member had more breathing room, knocking out No. 21 Noah Woolsey, 4&2.

In Thursday morning’s quarterfinals, Anthony will take on No. 4 Isaiah Salinda. Salinda, a junior at Stanford, had to toil in the Round of 16 before finally getting past Mike Stieler, 1 up. The 50-year-old Stieler was the oldest player remaining in the brackets.

The other quarterfinals matches will see Baumgarten taking on No. 8 Jesse Bratz, and No. 2 Bradley Knox facing No. 7 Daniel Connolly.

Bratz, a junior at UC Davis, cruised to a 5&4 Round of 16 win over Jonathan Yoshihiro. Both Knox, a senior at Stanford, and Connolly, a sophomore at Southern Methodist University, were pushed to the limit in the Round of 16. Knox finally got past Roman Aragon with an eagle on the 19th hole (the par-5 1st). Connolly, who recently captured the NCGA Amateur Stroke Play title, needed 20 holes to get past No. 23 Minsu Lee. The difference would be a Connolly par to a Lee bogey on No. 2.

Following Thursday morning’s quarterfinals it’ll be on to the semifinals. The first semifinal match is set to tee of at 12:30 p.m.

Friday’s action will see the 36-hole final.

Quarterfinal Matchups:
7:00 AM PT: Bryan Bumgarten v. Jesse Bratz
7:11 AM PT: Isaiah Salinda v. Jason Anthony
7:22 AM PT: Bradley Knox v. Daniel Connolly
7:33 AM PT: Shintaro Ban v. Matt Cohn