Robby Shelton
SUGAR GROVE, Ill. — Medalist and No. 1 seed Robby Shelton of the University of Alabama had no trouble defeating Jack Maguire in Friday morning's opening round of match play at the 113th Western Amateur. Shelton, the Crimson Tide sophomore from Wilmer, Ala., made four birdies in his first ten holes to sit two-up, and eventually closed out the Florida State junior on the 16th hole by a count of 3-and-2.
Shelton advanced to the quarterfinals, which are currently underway, to face 17-year old former Callaway Junior World champion Ryan Ruffels of Australia. Ruffels handed New Zealander Luke Toomey a 5-and-4 defeat thanks to four birdies on the front nine.
RELATED: Shelton claims medalist honors at Western Amateur
Here are the other three quarterfinal matchups already underway at Rich Harvest Farms, which will set he stage for Saturday morning's semifinals:
Jordan Niebrugge vs. Dawson Armstrong // Niebrugge, the 2013 Western Amateur champion, fought back from an early 2-down deficit to Duke sophomore Adam Wood. A birdie at 6 and an eagle at 7 helped the Oklahoma State senior get to 1-up before closing out Wood with a par on 16. Armstrong handedly defeated Australia's Harrison Endycott, winning four straight holes beginning at the eighth. The Lipscomb University sophomore, who held a two-shot lead after 36 holes of stroke play qualifying, finished off Endycott with a par on the par-4 14th to win 5-and-4.
Gavin Hall vs. Jake Knapp // Hall went down to the wire with UCLA senior Jonathan Garrick, needing a birdie at 18 to wrap up a narrow 1-up win. Hall, the University of Texas junior from Pittsford, N.Y., will face his second straight UCLA Bruin in Jake Knapp, the senior from Costa Mesa, California. Knapp never trailed in his morning match against University of Illinois senior Charlie Danielson, and was even 5-up on the Wisconsin native through the front nine before Danielson slowly attempted to crawl his way back.
Aaron Wise vs. Sam Horsfield // The final quarterfinal matchup pits the reigning Pacific Coast Amateur champion against the high-school graduating senior set to begin his collegiate career as a Florida Gator. Wise, the University of Oregon sophomore from Lake Elsinore, Calif., reached the 11th hole of his opening match with a commanding 6-up lead on fellow Californian Alex Franklin. But the former Oregon State golfer won three holes in a row against Wise to cut his deficit in half before Wise closed him out 3-and-2 with matching pars at 16. Horsfield and his playing competitor John Coultas of Florida Southern University were the only pair to need extra holes on Friday morning, as Horsfield punched his ticket to the quarterfinals with a par on the first extra hole.
Stay tuned for a full recap later this evening once quarterfinal matchups have concluded at Rich Harvest Farms.
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