Bandon, Oregon, United States: The prospects of Andi Xu and Aaron Du progressing to the match play stage of the 120th US Amateur Championship are hanging by a thread.
The Chinese duo ended the 36-hole stroke play qualifying in a share of 62nd place on two-over-par 145.
Xu followed an opening 73 at Bandon Trails with a 72 at Bandon Dunes. His compatriot Du, seemingly out of contention after a first-day 76 at Bandon Dunes, battled back with a 69 at Bandon Trails to keep alive his hopes.
With the leading 64 players going through to the match play phase, Xu and Du will return to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort early on Wednesday morning to compete in what is sure to prove a nerve-jangling play-off among 18 players for the last three spots on offer.
The play-off is scheduled to start on the par-four 10th hole at 7.15 am and continue, if necessary, to the par-four 11th and then to the par-three 12th.
Xu and Du will be hoping to join Australian Jack Trent (142) and Thai Puwit Anupansuebsai (143), the only two members of a 17-strong contingent from eight Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) member countries to guarantee themselves place in the match play.
Both have been drawn in the lower bracket against American opponents. Trent faces Jackson Suber while Puwit squares off with Carson Lundell.
Among the Asia-Pacific representatives to make an early exit were two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship winner Lin Yuxin (150) and his fellow-Chinese Bo Jin (149) and Liu Kaiwen (155) along with the Japanese quartet of Kaito Onishi (148), Kengo Aoshima (149), Shiso Go (154) and Shiryo ‘Leo’ Oyo (154).
Also bowing out were Australians Lachlan Barker (147) and Lukas Michel (148), Malaysian Ervin Chang (150), Chinese Taipei’s Sean Yu (158), Korean Lee Won-jun (159) and Singaporean James Leow (160).
Medallist honours went to Wilson Furr, a senior at the University of Alabama, who carded a sensational nine-under-par 62 in breezy conditions at Bandon Trails to finish two strokes clear of second-placed James Piot.
The 62 matched the second-lowest 18-hole score in US Amateur history – Jeff Wilson also shot 62 in 2011 at The Home Course in Dupont, Washington. It also eclipsed by two shots the Bandon Trails competitive course mark that had been set 24 hours earlier by Aman Gupta, and matched earlier on Tuesday by Charles ‘Ollie’ Osborne.
Billy Horschel owns the US Amateur and USGA 18-hole scoring record of 60, which he produced in the first round of the 2006 championship at the Chaska Town Course.
“Until you told me all that, it didn’t really hit me, to be honest with you,” said 22-year-old Furr, who is competing in his eighth USGA championship and fourth US Amateur. “We were just trying to run our gameplan all day. I started hitting it close and a couple of putts went in. I looked up and we were seven-under through 12. It happened real fast.”
