Sandwich, Kent, England: Billy Dowling’s thrilling 130th Amateur Championship adventure came to an end at the quarter-final stage.

After an outstanding week at Royal St George’s, the 20-year-old’s hopes of becoming the first Australian winner of the title since Bryden Macpherson in 2011 were extinguished by Italian Riccardo Fantinelli. 

For Dowling, who placed 10th in the 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and tied 37th in Japan last year, it proved to be a match too far. He went one-down at the second hole and was never able to get back to all square.

The Italian swept into a four-up lead through eight holes and although Dowling fought hard to reduce the deficit to two-down after 13 holes, Fantinelli won the 14th and 15th holes to complete a 4&3 success.

In the semi-finals, Fantinelli was defeated 4&3 by Ireland’s Gavin Tiernan who will now face off against American Ethan Fang in today’s 36-hole final.

After starting the week with 288 players in the field, Fang and Tiernan are the final two golfers remaining in the championship, both winning their quarter-final and semi-final matches on the sunny Sandwich Bay coast on Friday.

Fang, seventh in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), is looking to become the first American since Drew Weaver in 2007 to lift the coveted trophy, while Tiernan, who sits 1,333 places further down the WAGR, is the first player to come through Pre-Qualifying to reach the final.

The American secured his place in today’s showdown in emphatic fashion, comfortably defeating Finland’s Veikka Viskari 5&4 in the afternoon following victory over France’s Callixte Alzas in the morning, where he overcame a two-down deficit to win by as many.

Fang took full command of his afternoon match claiming the lead on the third hole and never relinquishing his advantage. The Oklahoma State University student, who has his childhood friend on his bag, won the third, sixth, seventh, eighth and 10th holes to win the match on the 14th and reach the final in his first trip to Europe.

Tiernan has had a longer week than his American opponent, having played 139-holes to reach the final. The 19-year-old has been taken to the 18th hole in three of his matches this week, including Friday morning’s quarter-final against Estonia’s Richard Teder. Behind all the way, Tiernan squared the match with a well-timed birdie at the 16th, before a bogey from Teder at the 18th allowed the Irishman to progress.

However, he only needed 15 holes to win his semi-final match against Fantinelli. After making the turn all-square in another tight tussle, Tiernan separated himself from his opponent with continued consistent play, winning the 10th, 12th, 14th, and 15th holes.

Fang and Tiernan will go head-to-head in the 36-hole final from 8.32 am local time, playing for the Amateur Championship title and entries into The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush, the US Open and, by tradition, will earn an invitation to compete at the Masters Tournament.

In addition to three Major championships, today’s champion will earn a place in the field at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo on the DP World Tour.

The R&A is providing live broadcast coverage of the final with live streams available globally on R&A TV and on The R&A’s YouTube channel.