By Dave Shedloski

Village of Pinehurst, N.C. – For all of the frustrations that golf levels on willing practitioners, epiphanies are a prime source for counterbalance, bringing welcome solace and small satisfactions that soothe the psyche.

Morgan Hoffmann is feeling better about his golf game, not only because he has advanced to the quarterfinals of the 108^th U.S. Amateur, but also because he is rounding into form thanks to a few little light bulbs that have gone off in his head to sharpen key skill sets.

With his best driving effort of the week mixed in with a few clutch putts, Hoffmann eliminated Andrew Landry, 2 and 1, Thursday afternoon at Pinehurst Resort’s No. 2 course.

Hoffmann, 19, of Saddle Brook, N.J., got his driving and putting to work in harmony, and he now moves on to meet fellow teenager Danny Lee of New Zealand, who cruised past Connor McHenry, 7 and 6.

"Everything is just sort of coming together," said Hoffmann, an incoming freshman this fall at Oklahoma State University. "It’s funny how that works sometimes because I came here not really playing that well. Today I was pretty solid."

"He definitely made some key putts. He played well," said Landry, 21, of Groves, Texas, who this spring was an Honorable Mention All-American at the University of Arkansas. "I can’t say I played badly, but I put myself in a few bad places and didn’t recover."

The match turned in Hoffmann’s favor on the par-4 eighth hole when Landry started to find those places of peril. He led 1 up after a two-putt birdie at No. 4, but missed the fairway left and then overshot the green. He failed to get up and down. On the following hole, both players missed the green left on the 189-yard par-3; Hoffmann chipped close while Landry couldn’t recover.

"That was the good stretch," said Hoffmann. "That turned things around for me."

Actually, things started turning around when he arrived at Pinehurst. A slight adjustment with his putting carried him in the qualifying rounds and through the first few rounds of match play. He’d been getting too technical, trying to work the blade square to square.

"I just let it go a bit and tried to feel it as opposed to getting locked up mechanically," said Hoffmann, who qualified for match play in the 2005 U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club but lost in the first round. "I have been rolling it really well. Everything inside of 8 feet I seemed to be able to make."

Hoffmann got his driver to start cooperating against Landry following a short instructional session with his teacher, Gary Gilchrist, prior to his second round match early Thursday morning. "It was a small change. It was like my putting. I just sort of found something and it really helped. I don’t know how else to describe it except that you can start to visualize the shots and then execute."

Landry’s execution was hampered by his inability to play out of Pinehurst’s rough. He lost the 12^th and 14^th holes after missing the fairway, but got one back at the 16^th when Hoffmann drove up against the lip of the right bunker and could only hack out sideways.

Hoffmann encountered another dreadfully tricky lie at the par-3 17^th when his ball stopped near the lip of the right bunker. With Landry in with a three, Hoffmann had to play the shot on his tiptoes with the ball a little behind him, but he gouged it out to about 4 feet and steered in the par with a putt that found the back door and ended the match.

"The back nine I really played solid," Hoffmann said. "He made me work for it, that’s for sure. But I’m just feeling like I’m getting progressively better and better, and I hope it continues."

Dave Shedloski is a freelance writer whose work has previously appeared on www.usamateur.org.