U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay down to elite eight

UNIVERSITY PLACE — The world's top-ranked amateur stayed alive with a pair of wins Thursday, and so did the player ranked No. 3,966.

Eight players remain in the U.S. Amateur golf tournament after two rounds on Thursday whittled the field from 32 to eight. It was definitely a day of survival at Chambers Bay, located along Puget Sound just south of Tacoma.

Winds reached speeds of more than 30 mph, and simple pars were anything but.

"I can't even explain how hard it was," said University of California sophomore Max Homa, and he won twice Thursday.

It was a day for favorites and for the underdogs.

Among those who advanced to the quarterfinals were Oklahoma State junior Peter Uihlein, who lived up to his world No. 1 ranking; Scott Langley, the Illinois senior who won the NCAA championship late this spring before finishing 16th in the U.S. Open (tied for low amateur); and Byeong-Hun An, looking to become the first player to win back-to-back titles since Tiger Woods captured three in a row from 1994 to 1996.

Underdogs? How about Jed Dirksen, who barely cracks the top 4,000 in the World Amateur Golf rankings; or Homa, who is ranked No. 319 in the world?

Dirksen needed an extra hole to beat Joseph Bramlett, who just finished his career at Stanford. Besides not having the pedigree of the other quarterfinalists, he also stands apart by carrying his own bag and by using a belly putter.

"My dad's carried for me a couple of times, but I carried for myself at the qualifier, and I'm kind of picky," said Dirksen, whose previous highlight was a second-place finish in the Iowa Amateur. "I just wanted to make it to match play, because once you get there, you've got to think you have a chance to win.

"So am I surprised? Yes and no."

Also advancing to the quarterfinals were Stanford junior David Chung, Oklahoma State junior Morgan Hoffman and UCLA freshman Patrick Cantlay.

Dirksen, who will be playing at Iowa this year after earlier stops at Central Florida and Arizona State, showed his mettle during stroke play when he was 7 over after his first 13 holes, but rallied to finish at 4 over after his two rounds.

Dirksen was 1-up heading to the 18th hole, and missed a 12-foot putt that would have won it. He won with a bogey on the first extra hole.

Homa's Golden Bears teammates started calling him Reaper after he was sick much of his first semester in school. He remains very much alive this week.

His career highlight entering this week was qualifying for this week's event. Now a win is in Homa's sights.

"Yeah, I am surprised, but now I want to keep moving and win on Sunday," he said. "But whatever happens, no one can take this away from me."

Homa rallied to beat Tacoma's T.J. Bordeaux 2 and 1 on Wednesday, saying, "I kind of felt bad winning because he had played so well." Homa had it much easier Thursday, beating Carter Newman 7 and 6 in the morning, then dispatching Harris English, the world's No. 8 amateur, 4 and 3 in the afternoon.

Uihlein had it much tougher, needing 19 holes to beat John Hahn to reach the quarterfinals. Next up is Hoffman, his Oklahoma State and Walker Cup teammate, in Friday morning's quarterfinal at 8:45.

Chung is ranked fourth in the world and is coming off wins in the Porter Cup and Western Amateur.

An, meanwhile, said he's not putting extra pressure on himself as defending champion, "but I am always nervous before the first hole," he said.

An begins school at California this fall, and will play against future teammate Homa at 8:15 a.m. Friday. The two were introduced Thursday morning for the first time. "It's not good to have Cal vs. Cal in the quarterfinals," An said. "Of course I want to win. But we're just going to have fun."

The other quarterfinal matches are Chung vs. Langley at 8 a.m. and Dirksen vs. Cantlay at 8:30.

Note

• Chan Kim, the former Arizona State player who was an amazing 7 under through 16 holes Wednesday to eliminate former UW star Nick Taylor, was 3 over in 13 holes Thursday morning and lost 6 and 5 to Central Florida senior Connor Arendell.