By Dave Shedloski

Village of Pinehurst, N.C. – The week prior to the U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst Resort’s No. 2 course, Drew Kittleson joined his Florida State teammates on a trip to Scotland. Among the stops was an obligatory, if not an opportune, round at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

Given that St. Andrews and Pinehurst are sister courses, Kittleson’s 64 on the Old Course couldn’t have been a better omen for his chances in the 108^th Amateur Championship.

Kittleson, 19, of Scottsdale, Ariz., who qualified for the Amateur by making birdie on the last hole of qualifying and then survived a playoff, is two wins away from claiming the Havemeyer Trophy after overcoming his biggest obstacle of the week, dispatching Derek Fathauer of Jensen Beach, Fla., 3 and 2 on a breezy and sun-drenched day.

Displaying a rather tidy short game on Friday that was sharpened by the challenges of links golf at St. Andrews and elsewhere, Kittleson was able to stave off a late rally by Fathauer, an All-American at Louisville who also reached the quarterfinals last year and made the cut at this year’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Club.

"It was the same (kind of golf)," said Kittleson, who contributed to Florida State’s first Atlantic Coast Conference championship this spring. "Bump and run and chipping from the fairways and stuff like that. … I also putted it a couple times and I think that it was good practice before coming here."

Fathauer, a PING All-American first-team selection, had more practice coming into the quarters than he bargained for. He played 42 holes on Thursday in winning twice, and although he won the first hole against Kittleson, he said he never felt comfortable.

Last year in the Amateur Public Links Championship, Fathauer was eliminated in the quarterfinals after having to play 45 holes the day before. This was one instant replay he didn’t enjoy, though he brushed it aside.

"I can’t use that as an excuse," he said dejectedly. "I didn’t hit the golf shots today – or yesterday. It caught up to me."

He nearly caught up to Kittleson, who clearly was playing more steadily after falling as many as four holes behind. A par at the second and birdies at the fourth and fifth gave Kittleson a 2-up advantage. A third birdie at the par-5 10^th hole after a nifty pitch shot to 3 feet combined with a fat chip by Fathauer won another hole.

When Kittleson saved par from just off the front of the green at 11 and Fathauer again failed to get up and down, the lead swelled to four.

But Fathauer saved par at 15 with a 15-foot curler while Kittleson bogeyed from the fairway bunker, and that seemed to change the momentum. Kittleson hit a squirrelly tee shot at 13 that resulted in a sloppy bogey and prompted him to concede a 4-footer that cut his lead in half.

"I felt pretty in control when I was 4 up," Kittleson said, "and then I had a pretty relatively easy fairway bunker shot on 12, and he was way left in the rough and then hit it over. And then I just fatted the bunker shot and made bogey and he made a good 15-footer for par and that kind of turned the momentum."