Williams, Russell square off for Western Amateur Championship

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (Aug 4, 2012) -- After Saturday's semifinal matches, the championship match at the grueling Western Amateur --- perhaps the amateur game's toughest test --- is set at Exmoor Country Club. Washington Huskies star Chris Williams, the No. 15 player in the Golfweek/amateurgolf.com U.S. Rankings, looks to add to his terrific summer against Jordan Russell, the recent Texas A&M graduate ranked No. 9 in the U.S. Both players prevalied in grueling morning matches to knock off a pair of red-hot competitors. Russell bested Peter Williamson in 20 holes to move to the finals. No player led by more than one hole and Russell battled back after going down a hole late on two separate occasions against Williamson, who entered the event as one of the favorites thanks to his wins at the North & South Amateur and the Southern Amateur already this summer. After Russell made the match all square again with a birdie on the par-5 15th, the two battled until the former Aggie made another birdie on the par-4 second hole. Williams, who has stormed up the rankings the last two years at Washington, prevailed in 19 holes against Abraham Ancer of the University of Oklahoma. Ancer won the first hole of the match and held that advantage through the sixth hole and again after the turn. Once Williams took the lead back on No. 12, Ancer evened things up until Williams dropped in an eagle 3 on the par-5 1st hole, which was the 19th of the match. The final match is set for 1 p.m. CST. Follow the match via the link below and be sure to log back on for more information when it's completed.