John Fought

John Fought, 22, of Portland, Ore., a quarter-finalist in 1976, played his last 37 holes in one under par to win the Amateur Championship at the Aronimink Golf Club, in Newton Square, Pa. Fought defeated Doug Fischesser, of Connersville, Ind., 9 and 8, in the scheduled 36-hole final round. This was the largest margin of victory since 1955, when Harvie Ward defeated Bill Hyndman by the same score.

Fischesser defeated several well-known players on his way to the final, among them Marty West, a former Walker Cup player; Buddy Alexander, the 1977 Eastern Amateur Winner; Peter McEvoy, the 1977 British Amateur Champion and British Walker Cupper; and Michael Brannan, an American Walker Cupper.

In the semi-finals he defeated Ralph Landrum, of Elsmere, Ky. Fought defeated Vinny Giles, the 1972 Champion; Michael Kelley, a member of the British Walker Cup Team; Doug Clarke, the 1977 Trans-Mississippi Champion; and Jay Sigel, a Walker Cup player and member of Aronimink. Against Sigel in the semi-finals, Fought played the last nine holes in even par to win, 2 up. Bill Sander, the 1976 Champion, lost in the third round.

Other former Champions-Bill Campbell (1964) and Gary Cowan (1966 and 1971)-lost in the second and third rounds, respectively. This was Campbell's 34th Championship. His victory in the first round was his 52nd in the Amateur. He was then tied with Harvie Ward in the number of matches won, five behind Chick Evans. (He also played in all eight Amateurs conducted at stroke play.) Fred Ridley, the 1975 Champion, lost in the third round.

The final match was fairly even through the first 14 holes, but then Fischesser played the last four holes of the morning round and the first hole of the afternoon in six over par and lost them all. From only 2 down he dropped to 7 down. After nine holes of the afternoon round Fought was 8 up. The match ended when Fought birdied the 10th hole. The entry of 3,017 exceeded the record set in 1976 by 536.