British Amateur: Eight players remain at Carnoustie

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — The first grueling day of the 120th British Amateur is complete, and only eight players are left standing as four Frenchman, three Scots, and one representative from England will duel it out in Friday morning's quarterfinal matches. Day one of match play was highlighted by the fall of both co-medalists — Craig Howie of Scotland and Ryan Chisnall of New Zealand. Both Michele Cea of Italy and Alejandro Tosti of Argentina, who were responsible for knocking off the top two seeds on Wednesday, took loses of their own on Thursday. Cea lost to Andri Bjornsson of Iceland 4-and-3 in the morning match while Tosti handed Thomas Rosenmueller of Germany a commanding 7-and-6 defeat in the morning before losing to Louisville senior Robin Sciot-Siegrist of France 3-and-2. Advancing to the quarterfinals, and teeing off first Friday morning at Carnoustie will be one of two all-France matchups. At 8:15 local time, Alexandre Daydou will face his countryman Antoine Rozner, with an all-Scotland pairing following right behind them at 8:30. That match will feature recently graduated University of San Diego golfer Grant Forrest and Greig Marchbank. Daydou won this year's Italian International Amateur, and used a 2-and-1 win over Andri Bjornsson of Iceland to advance to Friday's quarterfinals. "My putting has been very good this week in all of my rounds and through the match play," Daydou told the R&A. "I have played very well. I am just playing all of my matches 100% so let’s see what happens." Third off the first tee is a battle between Scotland's Jack McDonald and England's Sean Towndrow. Towndrow found himself in last year's semifinals where he lost to runner-up Zander Lombard of South Africa. The final group will feature the second of two French pairings — recent Ten Nations Cup winner Romain Langasque and the Louisville golfer Sciot-Seigrist, who tied for first at this year's ACC Championship. Semifinal matches will take place Friday afternoon with the finale, a 36-hole bout, beginning Saturday morning.