Aug. 3, 2012
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. -- Chris Williams won twice on Friday in the match play portion of the 110th Western Amateur Championship to advance to the semifinals at Exmoor Country Club on Saturday. Williams' teammate Cheng-Tsung Pan lost in extra holes during the round of 16. Williams, who won medalist honors on Thursday by finishing stroke play with a tournament record 17-under par, beat Richard Lamb in the round of 16 by a 6 and 5 margin and came back out in the afternoon and beat Richard Stone 2 up in the quarterfinals. Williams never trailed in either match. Last year, after earning medalist honors, Williams fell in the round of 16 to Patrick Cantlay. He quickly put to rest the chances of another early match play exit by jumping ahead of Lamb on the first hole. By the time the pair left the fourth green, Williams was up by three strokes. Williams would give one hole back on No. 7 when Lamb birdied, but that would be the only hole he would lose during the match. Williams got one back on the very next hole and would birdie three-straight holes from No.'s 10 through 12 to gain a six up advantage. Williams closed the match out when both golfers parred No. 13. In the quarterfinals, Williams had a much tighter match against Stone, who hails from South Africa. Williams may have never trailed, but he never led by more than two holes. The pair remained all square through the first three holes before Williams drew first blood with a birdie on No. 4. He extended his lead to 2 up on No. 8, but the two-hole advantage did not last very long when Stone won No. 9. Williams was able to extend his lead back to two when he birdied No. 11, while Stone scored a par. Williams kept that advantage until he bogeyed No. 17 to force the competitors to play at least one more hole. On the 18th, Williams scored par, while Stone could only muster a bogey to drop the match. Williams will face Abraham Ancer in the semifinals on Saturday with the winner advancing to play either Jordan Russell or Peter Williamson in the finals. Ancer, who competes at the University of Oklahoma, narrowly escaped the round of 16 by defeating Williams' teammate Pan in extra holes. Neither golfer led by more than one hole during the match, but Ancer was able to win on the 20th hole when he notched a birdie and Pan scored par. Pan trailed by one hole when both stepped onto the 18th tee, but Ancer scored a bogey while Pan parred to force extra holes. Pan led for a total of three holes during the match, while Ancer led for five holes total, excluding the final hole. |
