ZIMBABWE’S number one ranked amateur golfer Sean Crocker survived a two-hole playoff in the round of 16 to advance to the US Amateur Championship quarterfinals at the Olympia Fields North Course in Illinois, Chicago, late on Thursday.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
Crocker defeated highly rated American golfer Robby Shelton, who is ranked eighth on the World Amateur Golf Rankings on the second playoff hole.
The 18-year-old Harare-born star sealed his hard-fought win when he converted 12 foot birdie for par moments before Shelton missed his three-footer to tie the match.
“I didn’t expect that one little bit,” Crocker told usga.org after the round of 16 match. “I expected to be playing another hole, and then I just kind of — I was watching it (from the next tee), and I saw him just look up and not reach for the hole, and I saw my caddie just kind of wave me up. I didn’t even believe it. I didn’t think it was going to happen.”
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Neither player held more than a one hole lead throughout the match and Crocker, who now set to improve from his current ranking of 66th in the world didn’t get his first lead until a birdie on 14.
The semi-final matches are on today and the 36-hole Championship final for Sunday.