|
Asia-Pacific Amateur champion Kanaya sank a
12-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole on the Pinehurst No.2
course to tie up his match with European Amateur titleholder
Schmid and force a playoff.
The German then made a complete mess of the first extra hole and
conceded the match after taking four shots to reach the green at
the par-four.
During regulation, the 21-year-old from Hiroshima had been
outdriven by some 50 yards by the powerful Matthias and he knew
he needed something special at the par-four 18th.
Schmid, who was wayward at times, found trouble with both his
drive and second shot, but somehow coaxed in a 15-foot
par-saving putt that seemed likely to clinch victory.
But Kanaya, the world's third-ranked amateur, was up to the
challenge as he made the putt to force extra holes, punching his
fist and screaming 'come on' as the ball disappeared.
Schmid's waywardness on the extra hole, however, was an
anti-climactic end to a match otherwise worthy of a final.
Instead it was only the first round of the match play phase for
the 64 players who survived 36 holes of stroke play in the
world's most prestigious amateur tournament.
Brandon Wu, the leading qualifier in the 312-man field, found
that his two rounds of excellent stroke play counted for nothing
as he fell 1-up to the 64th and final qualifier, fellow American
Austin Squires.
The second round of stroke play had been delayed by rain and
only completed earlier on Wednesday with 27 contenders in a
playoff for three spots in the match play phase.
The playoff dragged on for nearly four hours before Squires
finally grabbed the last spot.
He made the most of his unlikely advancement by then eliminating
Wu, who two months ago tied for 35th at the U.S. Open at Pebble
Beach.
"It was stressful," Squires said. "I was ecstatic to make it out
of the playoff. I was one putt away from not being in match play
and then I got through and it started from scratch."
Wu said he had been brought undone by a cold putter.
"I thought I had some good game this week," he said. "Couldn't
make anything."
(Reporting by Andrew Both)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
