England’s highest-ranked player Sam Bairstow must beat World No 2 Ludvig Åberg to progress into the semi-finals of The Amateur Championship tomorrow.
FORMAT: 36-hole stroke play qualifier / 7 rounds of matchplay
The big-hitting Yorkshireman reached the last eight at Nairn last year and did so in style again today with a 4&3 success over Ireland’s Jack Hearn.
It set up a mouth-watering quarter-final with the brilliant Swede, who produced one of the great up and downs on his way to beating Matthew McClean 3&1.
Aberg, who had former Ryder Cup player Peter Hanson caddying for him, produced a miracle escape shot from the sand at the seventh, when he was two up.
“I made probably one of the top up-and-downs of my life today,” said Åberg.
“I hit my third shot in the bunker, left. And I was standing on my knees and I was like, I’m really happy if I make a six from here, and I ended up hitting it to a couple feet and made the putt.
“That was I think a little bit of a change in momentum for us and I ended up making birdie on the next and that gave me a cushion.”
Tomorrow’s quarter-finals:
• 8.15am: Sam Bairstow (Hallowes) v Ludvig Åberg (Sweden)
• 8.25am: Peter O’ Keeffe (Ire) v John Gough (Beaconsfield)
• 8.35am: Max Charles (Australia) v Alex Maguire (Ire)
• 8.45am: Aldrich Potgieter (South Africa) v Laurenz Schiergen (Germany)
Bairstow had just one bogey in the Irishman and the Hallowes player was happy with how he avoided most of the danger.
“I made a good birdie down on eight, holing a good putt but the key thing was I didn’t really give anything away, which around here which is all you need to do really.”
If Bairstow can get past Åberg there is the potential of an all England semi-final with Lytham Trophy champion John Gough (Beaconsfield).
The English Amateur champion birdied the last to have the last say in a humdinger of a clash with Welshman James Ashfield (Delamere Forest).
The duo shared nine birdies and an eagle with Ashfield driving the green at par four 16th and draining a 40-footer to get it back to all square before Gough grabbed his fifth birdie of the match at the last by knocking one in from 18 feet.
The English duo are the last remaining British representatives after Jamie Roberts lost out on the 18th to Ireland’s Alex Maguire. The Muckhart player fought back from four down but could not quite complete the comeback.