Aman Gupta enters Round of 32 in US Amateurs

Oregon (US), August 13

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Indian-American golfer Aman Gupta continued his journey in the 120th US Amateur Championship with a win in the Round of 64 as the match play segment got underway.

The 21-year-old, who got into the field following a last-minute pullout of World No. 2 Ricky Castillo, continued his ride by beating Van Holmgren.

Gupta had the services of his Oklahoma State University coach, Alan Bratton, a 1995 US Walker Cup player. Bratton was on the bag for another OSU player, Austin Eckroat, who failed to make the match play.

Bratton is also a lucky caddie for OSU players as he was on the bag for Peter Uihlein (2010) and Viktor Hovland (2018) when they won the Havemeyer Trophy for the US Amateur.

It was Holmgren who took the lead first by winning the Par-3 2nd hole but Aman soon hit back strongly. He won the Par-5s on 3rd, 9th and 13th with birdies and also took the Par-3 6th and Par-4 7th with pars.

When they walked off the 13th green, Gupta was 4-up with five holes to play. Holmgren won the 14th but needed to win at least three of the remaining four to tie the match. When the 15th and 16th were halved, Aman ran out a 3&2 winner.

The Oklahoma State University golfer will now meet Jonathan Yaun in the Round of 32. Two rounds of match play are scheduled for Thursday.

Stewart Hagestad, who is seeking to qualify for his third consecutive USA Walker Cup Team next spring and also get into the top-7 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings to qualify for the US Open, also moved into the Round of 32.

Hogestad, after a rough start in stroke play, when he was 2 over par through 26 holes, played his last 10 holes in 6 under to complete a 6-under 66 at Bandon Dunes and put himself comfortably into the match-play draw.

Hogestad, who is currently No. 15 in the world, next won his Round of 64 match-up with 2020 Latin America Amateur champion Abel Gallegos.

Hagestad has competed in the last three US Opens. PTI