Semifinals set at Western Amateur
Sean Dale
ROLAND, Ark. (Aug. 3, 2013) -- Match play at the 111th Western Amateur Championship kicked off Saturday from The Alotian Club and four remain heading into Sunday.
Top-seed Patrick Rodgers fell in first-round action. After setting the tournament record during stroke-play qualifying, the two-time Walker Cup selection fell to University of North Florida graduate and Jones Cup winner Sean Dale, 2-down.
Dale went on to face Tyler Dunlap, who defeated Cory McElyea in 20 holes in the Round of 16. Dale, a 2nd team All-American beat the U.S. Open participant 2-up and will face Kramer Hickock in Sunday's semifinal.
In the bottom half of the bracket, Hickock defeated University of Texas teammate Beau Hossler, 2-and-1 to move to the quarterfinals where he beat David Snyder. Snyder beat Taylor Moore 5-and-3 to reach the quarterfinals before losing in 16 holes to Hickock.
On the other side of the bracket, Sebastian Cappelan beat Carlos Ortiz and is onto the semifinals. Cappalen beat top-ranked junior Robby Shelton in 20 holes to advance earlier in the day.
U.S. Public Links champion Jordan Niebrugge was a 4-and-3 winner over Oklahoma State teammate Talor Gooch in the Round of 16 and he continued his hot play with a 3-and-1 victory over Seth Reeves in the quarterfinals. Niebrugge is the hottest player in the field and a win here could sneak him into one of the remaining non-mid amateur slots on the Walker Cup team.
Semifinal and final-round action begins Sunday from The Alotian Club. For a full rundown of Saturday's matches, use the link below.
ABOUT THE
Western Amateur
Invitational event, and the most important
tournament in American amateur golf outside of the
U.S. Amateur. With a grueling schedule, it's quite
possibly the
hardest amateur tournament to win.
156 invited players come from across the
globe to play one of the toughest formats in
amateur golf. The tournament starts with 18
holes of stroke play on Tuesday and
Wednesday after which the field is cut to the
low 44 scores and ties. Thursday it's a long
day of 36 holes of stroke play to determine
the “Sweet Sixteen” who compete at Match
Play on Friday and Saturday (two matches
each day if you're going to the finals) to
decide the champion.
View Complete Tournament Information