Semifinals set at Calif. State Amateur

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (June 21, 2013) — Quarterfinal matches took place Friday morning with four players advancing to the semifinals Friday afternoon. The first to advance was Matt Hansen of Los Osos who beat Atherton’s Jonathan Garrick 4-and-2. Garrick held an early 1-up lead in the round before losing it and then regained it with a birdie on the par-5 ninth. However, from that point forward, some spectacular golf was played by Hansen as he won five holes on the back nine (Nos. 11, 12, 13, 15 and 16), four of them with birdies. The second match of the morning and last to finish saw Bryson DeChambeau of Clovis beat Seaside’s Nick Moore in 19 holes. DeChambeau won two holes on the opening nine (Nos. 3 and 5) to take a 2-up lead going into the back-nine, which saw very few halved holes. Moore got the match to all-square with an eagle-2 on the 11th—from 75 yards away in the rough—and a birdie on the 12th. A bogey on the picturesque par-3 14th gave DeChambeau a 1-up lead, but Moore quickly re-squared the match with a birdie on 16th. DeChambeau would then win the 17th with par and lose the 18th with a bogey, before winning with a par on the 19th hole. The third match of the morning featuring Santa Cruz’s Cory McElyea and David Gazzolo of Riverside was fairly even the first 10 holes with no player gaining more than a 1-up advantage for more than one hole at a time. Then on holes 11-13, McElyea seized a commanding 3-up lead, thanks to two birdies and a double-bogey by Gazzolo. The Riverside resident would the lead to 2-up with a McElyea bogey on the 14th, but two more halves and a conceded par putt on the 17th gave McElyea a 3-and-1 victory. Fresno’s Pace Johnson got out to a quick 3-up after three holes over Danville’s Cody Blick as Blick bogeyed the first two holes and Johnson birdied the third. That lead went to 4-up after another bogey by Blick on the sixth, but three bogeys by Johnson on Nos. 7, 9 and 10 cut his advantage to 1-up. The 22-year-old though closed things out winning three more holes (Nos. 13, 15 and 16) to win 4-and-2.