Hammer advances in Western Amateur

Flavin, Stevens bounced in Round of 16 

Writing from Northfield, Illinois

Friday, August 3, 2018

Co-medalist Cole Hammer needed 20 holes and scored only even par but advanced to the quarterfinals of the 116th Western Amateur at Sunset Ridge Country Club on Friday, beating Davis Shore.

Hammer, the Houston teen who’ll enter Texas later this month, saw Shore square the match with a par on the par-3 17th, but birdied the second extra hole – only his third birdie of the round after 24 in the 72-hole stroke play competition – to advance to Friday afternoon’s quarterfinal match against Spencer Ralston of Gainesville, Ga.

Ralston knocked off local favorite Patrick Flavin of Highwood 3 and 2 after trailing 2 up at the turn. Ralston strung together four straight birdies beginning at the 10th to take a 1-up lead, then watched Flavin bogey the 14th to take a 2-up edge. Flavin’s three bogeys on the back nine helped seal his fate in his final amateur start. He’ll turn pro for next week’s Illinois Open.

Sam Stevens, whose 51-foot birdie putt Thursday night tied him with Hammer for the stroke-play medal, was run over by 15th-seeded Kaiwen Liu in his match. Liu was 5-under, including the usual concessions, over 14 holes.

The Round of 16 matches:

Cole Hammer d. Davis Shore, 20 holes

Spencer Ralston d. Patrick Flavin, 3 & 2

John Augenstein d. Collin Morikawa, 4 and 2

Brandon Wu d. Kyle Michel, 6 and 5

Kaiwen Liu d. Sam Stevens, 5 and 4

Tyler Strafaci d. Isaac Merry, 1 up

Hayden Springer d. Isaiah Salinda, 2 up

Davis Riley d. Min Woo Lee, 4 and 3

The Quarterfinal matchups:

Cole Hammer vs. Spencer Ralston

John Augenstein vs. Brandon Wu

Kaiwen Lio vs. Tyler Strafaci

Hayden Springer vs. Davis Riley

– Tim Cronin