Matt Kuchar, 19, of Lake Mary, Fla., made three consecutive birdies in the morning round to take a 3-up lead through 14 holes and went on to win the 97th U.S. Amateur Championship, 2 and 1, over 1996 semifinalist Joel Kribel at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont, Ill.

Kuchar, a sophomore at Georgia Tech who was playing in his first Amateur, again won three consecutive holes in the afternoon round to go 7 up with 10 holes to play. Kuchar, whose father, Peter, was his caddie for the week, had failed in his attempt to qualify for the Amateur in 1996.

Kribel, of Pleasanton, Calif., staged a late rally, winning five of the next seven holes to cut Kuchar's lead to 2 up with three to play. But Kuchar clinched the championship with a two-putt par on the 426-yard, par-4 35th hole.

"I think I kind of impressed myself this week," said Kuchar. "I was having the time of my life, but this is beyond anything I could have imagined."

The 20-year-old Kribel, who lost to Tiger Woods, 3 and 1, in the semifinals in 1996, he went 26 holes before he made his first birdie.

"I'm obviously disappointed," said Kribel, a senior at Stanford University. "I've been dreaming about coming back and winning the whole thing after last year, but now I have to wait a whole year to give it another run."

Kribel had an eventful summer. He qualified for the 1997 U.S. Open, where he missed the 36-hole cut by just one stroke, and he was a member of the winning 1997 U.S. Walker Cup team.

Kuchar is now exempt into the 1998 U.S. Open and British Open fields.

"If I had a dollar on me, I would have won a ton of money," said Kuchar jokingly.

Kribel defeated Brad Elder of Overland Park, Kan., in one semifinal, 3 and 1. Kuchar got a fast start and easily defeated Randy Leen of Dayton, Ohio, in the other, 6 and 5. Overall, six of the 10 U.S. Walker Cuppers made match play. In contrast, none of the seven British team members advanced.

For a moment it appeared that Barclay Howard, a 44-year-old who was the low amateur at the 1997 British Open, would be in match play, with an apparent 36-hole total of 141. But he disqualified himself 15 minutes after completing his second round because he had signed an incorrect scorecard, the result of unknowingly violating the "one-ball rule" at his 36th hole.

The medalist for qualifying was Roger Tambellini, a semifinalist at the 1997 U.S. Amateur Public Links, who shot 67-69 -136, a total of 8-under-par. However, Terry O'Laughlin, who had survived a seven-hole playoff to become the last qualifier for match play, promptly dispatched him.