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Wittenberg
And Flanagan To Meet In Final
Wittenberg,
18, Tries To Become Second Youngest U.S.
Amateur Champion
Oakmont,
Pa. – Teenagers Casey
Wittenberg of Memphis,
Tenn., and Nick
Flanagan
of Australia each jumped
out to early leads in winning their semifinal matches to advance
to Sunday’s 36-hole final of the U.S. Amateur Championship at Oakmont
Country Club, a difficult golf course that has hosted seven U.S.
Opens.
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| Nick
Flanagan watches in angst as his 20-foot putt on the final hole
stops short. (John Mummert/USGA) |
Wittenberg,
18, is bidding to become the second youngest Amateur champion. Tiger
Woods was four months younger when he won the first of his three
consecutive titles, in 1994.
Wittenberg
won three of the first five holes versus Lee Williams, 21, of Alexander
City, Ala., and then sealed the outcome by winning three consecutive
holes to take a 5-up lead after the par 3 13th.
Wittenberg
is one of eight golfers recently named to
the USA Walker Cup team that will face an amateur team from Great
Britain and Ireland
next month. Earlier this summer, he won
the Southern Amateur and the Porter Cup
. He is a freshman at Oklahoma
State.
"This
summer has been just great for me,” said Wittenberg . “I’m riding
a good wave and I hope it will continue.
"To
be on the Walker Cup team and win the U.S. Amateur, those are goals,”
said Wittenberg . “I’ve accomplished one of those, and if I play
well Sunday, I might be able to accomplish the other one.”
Flanagan,
19, unlike Wittenberg, squandered his 3-up lead through seven holes.
David Oh , 22, of Los Angeles, Calif., won the next five holes
before Flanagan re-grouped to win holes 13 and 14 to square the
match.
Oddly,
12 of the first 14 holes were either won or lost.
The
decisive hole was the last, which Flanagan
won with a two-putt par. Oh’s approach
on the long 484-yard par 4 rolled through the green into the heavy
rough just behind the green, leaving him an impossible chip. He
ended up making six.
Flanagan,
who lives two hours north of Sydney,, has spent the last two-and-a-half
months playing golf tournaments in the U.S. Just two weeks ago
he was so homesick he wanted to go home. Now, like Wittenberg, he
will receive an invitation to play in next year’s U.S. Open and
Masters fields. He has been playing competitive golf for just five
years, having been inspired by Woods’ 1997 Masters win.
"Just
to have the invite to the Masters and U.S. Open for next year is
great,” said Flanagan. “I think I will be a lot more relaxed Sunday,
win or lose. I could lose 9 and 8 and be a lot calmer than I was
today when I was 3 up.”
Flanagan
won this year’s Tasmanian Open and played
in the Australian Open. Now, he’s one win away from being the
first Australian in 100 years to win the U.S. Amateur. Australian
Walter Travis won the
Amateur in 1903. Travis
is one of six foreign-born winners of the Amateur. The last was
Canadian Gary Cowan in 1971.
The
U.S. Amateur is one of 13 national championships conducted annually
by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly
for amateur.
Results
Oakmont
, Pa.
– Results of Saturday’s semifinal round of match play at the U.S.
Amateur Championship, played at the par 70, 7,171-yard Oakmont Country
Club:
Casey
Wittenberg ,
Memphis , Tenn.
(29) def. Lee Williams
, Alexander City
, Ala.
(56), 5 and 4.
Nick
Flanagan ,
Australia (55) def.
David Oh, Cerritos
, Calif.
(30), 1 up.
Sunday's
Pairing And Time
Oakmont
, Pa. – Pairing for Sunday’s 36-hole final match at the U.S. Amateur,
being played at the par 70, 7,171-yard Oakmont Country Club (Time
is EDT ):
8:30
a.m. and 2:00
– p.m. – Wittenberg
vs. Flanagan
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