Two of the favourites for the title were bundled out of the Amateur Championship in the fourth round at Royal Lytham & St Annes when Walker Cup player Lloyd Saltman and World Amateur Golf Ranking number two Jamie Moul were both beaten by one hole, leaving the championship wide open.
Saltman, the only Walker Cup player to make it through to the match play stages of the championship, lost to England A squad member Chris Wood, winner of the West of England Stroke Play Championship. He missed the cut in the Lytham Trophy earlier this season and said "I was determined to come back and prove that I could play the course". Against Saltman he recovered from two holes down when he birdied three out of four holes from the 13th. He holed from 25 feet at the last and Saltman missed from eight feet.
Saltman said: "I played very well and only hit one bad shot when I missed the green at the short 12th. I was one under for the last six holes which is not bad going at Lytham, but it was not good enough. I was feeling good but he took it off me."
Jamie Moul lost to 19-year-old Ross Kellett, who finished second in last year's Scottish Youths Stroke Play Championship. Kellet was one up playing the last but drove into a bunker in the left side of the fairway. His recovery finished off the right side of the green and he putted up to six feet and holed out for a par four. Moul, 15 feet beyond the pin in two, missed the put that would have taken the match into extra time.
"When he drove into the bunker I was thinking of a play-off," said Moul. "But he hit an unbelievable shot."
Kellett commented: "Jamie was not at his best and I holed a few putts. When I came here my target was to make the cut, but now I've got this far I can't see why I can't win."
Jason Shufflebotham, who knocked out leading qualifier David Horsey in the third round, continued his good form with a 3 and 2 win over American Tom Glissmeyer, and Rick Kulacz of Australia defeated Scotland's Mark Kerr by 3 and 1.
Through to the quarter-finals is 20-year-old American Brew Weaver, a student at Virginia Tech who was on campus and within 100 yards of the recent fatal shooting incident. He birdied three holes out of four on the inward nine on his way to a 2 and 1 victory over Kevin McAlpine.
The second Scot into the fifth round is Callum Macaulay who beat Kenny Le Sager of France at the second extra hole.
Jorge Campillo of Spain had a 2 and 1 win over Andrew Sullivan to claim his place in the last eight. He will be attempting to follow in the footsteps of fellow countrymen Sergio Garcia and Alejandro Larrazabal, winner of the Amateur title in 1998 and 2002.
Australia have two players in the final eight - Tim Stewart beating Gary Boyd by one hole in the final fourth round match.
About the British Amateur
This championship, along with the US Amateur Golf Championship, is considered the most important in amateur golf. The first stage of the Championship involves 288 players each of whom plays two rounds of 18 holes, one to be played on each of the two ...
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