The 18-year-old South African continued the dominating form which saw him lead both rounds of stroke play qualifying to progress to the last 32. His countryman Matt Saulez recorded the championship’s first hole in one at the 11th during his match with Benjamin Jones but it failed to inspire him to victory as he went down by 2 holes to the Englishman.
“We had different weather and different wind today so it was tough on the front nine playing into the wind and I think I played nicely. It’s tough so I’m really happy to get the win and go through to tomorrow.”
Leading qualifier Wilco Nienaber wins ✅
— The R&A (@RandA) June 20, 2018
Fight back from Matthew Jordan ✅
Dominating performance from top seed Viktor Hovland ✅
It was an exciting day of match play at #TheAmateur.
Hear from some of the players who made it through to Thursday’s third round at Royal Aberdeen. pic.twitter.com/lqhbnn7mfS
Highest ranked player eases through
The highest-ranked player in the field, Viktor Hovland booked his place in the third round after coming through his match against Lukas Euler 5&4. The Norwegian, fifth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, dispatched the German, who defeated Mexican Alvaro Ortiz in the preliminary round to set up the match with Hovland.
Hovland commented on how he played, “I’m just really maximising my game right now and getting it round really well. I hit it really well off the tee, mainly in the fairways and hit a couple of really close shots coming into the greens as well as a few putts.”
The impressive Norwegian who plays collegiate golf at Oklahoma State in the US will now take on England’s Thomas Forster in the third round on Thursday.
On his next opponent he said, “I don’t think about who I’m playing too much, I know if I play really well my opponents going to have a hard time beating me. I’m just focused on that.”
England's Jordan through after extra holes
Walker Cup player Matthew Jordan composed himself after surrendering a 4-hole lead against Finland’s Matias Honkala. After his opponent missed a 5ft putt for the match on the 19th, the world No.7 and current Lytham Trophy champion holed from 15ft at the 20th to win the hole and progress to the next round.
Related: Matthew Jordan dominates, wins Lytham Trophy
“I’m very relieved,” admitted Jordan. “I played really good and putted good as well, I didn’t make many mistakes until the 14th and then three putted which left me four up with five to play there. From there on in the match just seemed to switch, he had a bounce in his step. It just felt like a real struggle and he birdied 15 and 16 but then the last few holes panned out okay. Whenever you win on extra holes it’s just a massive relief.”
Forres’ Jeff Wright defeated Euan McIntosh by one hole to come out on top in the battle of the Scots. Wright is one of three home players to continue alongside Nairn’s Sandy Scott and Stuart Easton from Irvine. Scott defeated German Claudio Consul 3&2 while Easton knocked out Australia’s Will Heffernan by one hole.
His countryman and St Andrews squad member Robin Dawson followed him through with a 4&2 win over David Ravetto from France.
Related: Irish Open Am: Dawson hangs on at Royal County Down
From the Irish contingent, John Murphy, Connor Purcell and Rowan Lester also progressed to Thursday’s third round.
Two Americans remain in the championship. Blake Wagoner (Cornelius, NA) a rising junior at Arizona State University, defeated Paul Foulquie of France 3&2 and will face Australian Master of the Amateurs champion David Micheluzzi in the next round. Walker Lee (Houston, TX), rising sophomore at Texas A&M, beat Jack Cope of England 2 up and will next face St. Andrews Links Trophy champion John Murphy of Ireland.
