Southport, England: South African Christo Lamprecht, the highest-ranked player in the field, came through two match play ties to progress to the last-32 of The 128th Amateur Championship at Hillside.
The 22-year-old, sixth on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), is among the contenders to win the trophy lifted by his compatriot, Aldrich Potgieter, at Royal Lytham & St Annes 12 months ago.
After a record 90 players qualified for the knock-out stage at Hillside, Lamprecht came through the preliminary round with a narrow one-hole win over Jack Ingham from the Netherlands.
Making his third appearance in the Championship, Lamprecht then claimed a 3&2 victory over American George Duangmanee to keep his hopes alive on a glorious day in England’s north-west.
Also through to the last 32 is Thailand’s Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat, who beat South African Jordan Burnand 2&1 on Wednesday. He will face Irish former Walker Cup player Caolan Rafferty on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Australia is guaranteed one player into the last 16 after the draw pitted together Joshua Greer and Jasper Stubbs in the Round of 32.
Greer defeated Italy’s Matteo Cristoni 2&1 while Stubbs overcame Japan’s Minato Oshima one-up.
Leading qualifier Ben Van Wyk of South Africa lost out by two holes to Wales’ Caolan Burford, who reached the quarter-finals of last year’s R&A Boys’ Amateur at Carnoustie.
England’s John Gough, a semi-finalist a year ago and a renowned match play specialist, also progressed to the last-32 after a 2&1 triumph against Oliver Mukherjee, the reigning Scottish Amateur champion. Gough has won both the Australian Master of the Amateurs and the Irish Amateur Open this year and closed out his win with a battling half at the par-five 17th.
Another semi-finalist from last year, Ireland’s Alex Maguire, recovered from three down after nine holes to defeat Jakob Melin from Sweden with a birdie on the 18th.
Rafferty ousted Thom Linssen from the Netherlands 4&3, as he enjoys the hard and fast links conditions. Frank Kennedy continued the form that saw the 17-year-old win the Lytham Trophy earlier this season as he beat Mark Stockdale 4&2 in an all-English tie.
Richard Teder from Estonia, who finished joint-second in stroke play qualifying, also reached the last-32 after his 2&1 win against England’s Charlie Crockett.
The winner of Saturday’s 36-hole Final will secure exemptions into The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool next month, the US Open, and, by tradition, an invitation to play in the Masters Tournament.