The final eight golfers to make it to the Friday quarterfinals included a cast that had been here before last year - Charlie Holland – those who just moved to the United States from Korea a mere three years ago – Byeong-Hun An. Each of the eight brought their top game to the quarters, knowing but four would advance.
The first match saw Oklahoma State’s Peter Uihlein matching up against fellow Big 12 golfer, the University of Texas’ Charlie Holland. In a match that saw Holland jump to the lead from the first tee, Uihlein stayed in the match to the very last hole, and even forced a 19th playoff hole. Holland birdied the first of the extras and took the match 1-up, knocking out the last golfer with Oklahoma ties out of the Tulsa, Oklahoma hosted tournament.
Ben Martin and David Lingmerth’s quarterfinal matchup started with Lingmerth taking and early lead and holding it for the first seven holes. By the eighth, however, things were back to all square and momentum shifted Martin’s way. Lingmerth had the round back to all square as late as the 12th, but after two bogeys from Lingmerth on the 14th and 16th and two birdies from Martin on 13 and 17, Martin went on to win the match 2 & 1.
Bhavik Patel defeated Phillip Mollica 1-up in the third match of the day on Friday. Patel’s first lead of the day did not occur until the 15th hole of the round and he was able to hold this stroke advantage through the final stretch of four holes after going par-par-bogey-par.
The final match of the day proved to be the longest in the quarterfinals, as Steve Ziegler and Byeong-Hun An went to three extra holes. The match seemed to be in An’s control for the vast majority of the round, with Ziegler trailing from the first tee and not sqaring the match until the final hole of regulation. However, An was too much to handle for Zeigler and a par by An on the par 4 third proved to be the deciding factor in the match, completing the quarterfinals and leaving Southern Hills Country Club with just two more days of stiff competition to go.
After such down to the wire matches in the quarters, the semifinals went in the opposite fashion. The first pairing saw Ben Martin defeat Charlie Holland 5 & 4 in a quick 13 hole showing. Then Byeong-Hun An bested Bhavik Patel 3 & 2 in a match that was all square after 13. But Patel made fatal bogeys on 14 and 15, followed by a double bogey on 16 that would end the match with two holes to play.
This set up a 36-hole finals showdown between Byeong-Hun An and Ben Martin. The match was tight through the first 14 holes of play, but then An turned it on and ended the morning 18 with a 3-up lead, which he would never relinquish. An needed just 31 holes to take the U.S. Amateur title 7 & 5 and become the youngest winner in championship history, at just 17. He also becomes the second consecutive Korean born player to take the title.
