Australian Amateur: Corey Conners topples defending champion in third round

ROSEBURY, Australia — Defending is difficult, regardless of the size and scale of the event. But when Tae Koh of New Zealand stumbled upon No. 1 ranked amateur in the world Corey Conners in Friday's round-of-16 matchup at the Australian Men's Amateur, his task became that much more challenging.

Koh, the 2014 champion, ran into a buzz saw in Conners at The Australian Golf Club. The Ontario, Canada native won last week's Lake Macquarie Amateur to add to his already impressive resume over the last year. In 2014, Conners won the Jones Cup, was medalist at the Argentine Amateur, and was runner-up twice (U.S. Amateur and North & South Amateur).

DAY ONE RECAP: Lucas Herbert takes down Nick Marsh in Australian Amateur opening round
STROKE PLAY: Nick Marsh, So- Young Lee medal at Australian Amateur

Koh gave him a battle, however, taking the match to the 18th hole before losing 2-up. He had a close match in Friday morning's round, as well, defeating England's Paul Howard 1-up.

Conners will draw Australian Kevin Yuan in the quarterfinals, which will begin Saturday morning just after 7:00am. Yuan was part of the most lopsided match of the third round, in which he handed Blake Collyer a 7-and-6 defeat.

Lucas Herbert, who knocked off medalist and No. 1 seed Nick Marsh of England in the opening round, lost his second round matchup to Naoyuki Kataoka of Japan, 2-and-1. Herbert needed a playoff to even secure the 64th seed in match play before coming back from 3-down to upset Marsh.

The remaining six players to advance to Saturday's quarterfinal matches are Jason Gulasekharam of New Zealand who will face fellow countryman Tyler Hodge, Cameron Davis of New South Wales and his fourth-round parter Jack Sullivan of Queensland, and New South Wales natives Justin Warren and Brayden Petersen.

For the current match play bracket and Saturday's draw, please follow the link below.