Birren, who won the SCGA Public Links Championship in 2015, was in a close match all day against P.J. Samiere of San Diego State. With no man ever taking a lead of more than 1up, Birren eventually won as both men collected pars on the 18th hole. After being down 1 through four holes, Birren took 1 up leads on holes 6, 8 and 16, the last of which he never relinquished.
For Hogarth, he breezed through Round of 32 action on Wednesday with a 7 and 6 victory, but did have to play the course through 17 holes on Thursday, winning 2 and 1 against T.J. Masters. Hogarth, who has a lot of experience on the Valencia CC track, played his 17 holes in 1-under par on Thursday.
Some of the best play of the day came off the clubs of Shintaro Ban of UNLV, who defeated Fresno's Greg Gildea 4 and 3. Ban entered the back nine 1up, before going on a tear that included two birdies and an eagle over a 5-hole stretch.
"I told my caddie that if the 11th hole was playing at 300 yards or less, I was going for it," said Ban of the par-4 hole, which was playing at 305 yards for Thursday's action. "I didn't necessarily think I'd hit the green, especially 15 feet from the hole, but I did and was able to knock in the putt."
The eagle put Ban, who is the brother of last year's champion Shotaro, 2 up in his match with 7 holes to play, but he wouldn't need them, increasing his lead to 3 holes through 14 and ending the match on the 15th green with a birdie. With the win, Ban advances to face Birren Friday morning.
Also advancing to the quarterfinals was recent CIF State Champion Hidetoshi Yoshihara, who will play golf at UCLA in the Fall. He will take on Brandon Tsujimoto of UC Riverside tomorrow.
The full list of quarterfinal matches are:Eddy Lai vs. Peter Kuest Shintaro Ban vs. Sean Birren Hidetoshi Yoshihara vs. Brandon Tsujimoto Sebastian Crampton vs. Tim Hogarth