Western Amateur down to final four at Rich Harvest Farms
Medalist Robby Shelton (top left), will face
Dawson Armstrong (top right) while Jake Knapp
(bottom left) will do battle with Aaron Wise
SUGAR GROVE, Ill. — Saturday's semifinal
matchups are set for the 113th
Western Amateur. Two kids from the Southeast
will do battle while two Pac-12 collegians, both
natives of California, will
dual it out on the other side of
the bracket.
Medalist and No. 1 seed Robby Shelton of the
University of Alabama was the
first player through to the semis on Friday
afternoon, handing Australian
junior golfer Ryan Ruffels a 4-and-3 defeat. The
win will pit him against
Tennessee native Dawson Armstrong on
Saturday morning.
Armstrong, who at one point held the 36-hole
stroke play qualifying lead
after opening rounds of 67 and 66, is a
sophomore at Lipscomb University in
Nashville, Tennessee. He took down 2013
Western Amateur winner Jordan
Niebrugge in the quarterfinals to punch his ticket
to Saturday.
RELATED:
Shelton claims
medalist honors at Western
Amateur
QUARTERFINAL RECAP:
Shelton among
eight advancing Friday
morning
The most compelling match of the afternoon
wound up being the duel
between UCLA senior Jake Knapp and University
of Texas junior Gavin Hall.
The pair needed
six extra holes after
Hall forced sudden death with
a clutch birdie at 18. Knapp and Hall managed to
both make birdies on the
fifth extra hole, the par-3 5th at Rich Harvest
Farms, to force what was
eventually their final hole. Knapp knocked an
incredible fairway bunker shot
to two feet and tapped in to eliminate Hall.
Knapp will face fellow Southern Californian
Aaron Wise on Saturday morning.
Wise, a sophomore at the University of Oregon
from Lake Elsinore, Calif.,
would be a remarkable champion at
tournament's end considering he won
last week's
Pacific Coast
Amateur. Wise defeated soon-to-be
University of Florida freshman Sam
Horsfield of England in his quarterfinal match by
a count of 3-and-2.
ABOUT THE Western Amateur
Invitational event, and the most important
tournament in American amateur golf outside of the
U.S. Amateur. With a grueling schedule, it's quite
possibly the
hardest amateur tournament to win.
156 invited players come from across the
globe to play one of the toughest formats in
amateur golf. The tournament starts with 18
holes of stroke play on Tuesday and
Wednesday after which the field is cut to the
low 44 scores and ties. Thursday it's a long
day of 36 holes of stroke play to determine
the “Sweet Sixteen” who compete at Match
Play on Friday and Saturday (two matches
each day if you're going to the finals) to
decide the champion.
View Complete Tournament Information