By Alistair Hogg Australians Rohan Blizard and Grant Scott have made it through to the quarter-finals of the New Zealand Amateur Championship at Hamilton Golf Club. The pair will play each other for a place in the semi-final. Blizard progressed through the opening rounds with ease, claiming 3/2 victories over his opponents. The Australian Amateur Champion defeated Kiwi Andrew Henare and countryman Jamie Arnold to keep his bid for dual championships alive. Blizard&aposs second round win was highlighted by an albatross at the par-five fourth. The New South Welshman played a four-iron from 193 metres which miraculously found the cup to give him the hole. Scott&aposs progress was also rather emphatic. He started his day with a massive 7/6 win over Australian Brenton Haines and then defeated the more fancied New Zealander Troy Ropiha 4/3. The winner of Blizard and Scott&aposs quarter-final will meet either Leighton James or Nick Gillespie for a place in Sunday&aposs 36-hole final. Second seed Andrew Dodt suffered d j vu as he was dumped out of the first round of match play having performed strongly in the stroke play. The Queenslander finished second on Thursday but failed to maintain his form, going down 4/3 to Richard Pegg who won his spot in the main draw via a playoff. Dodt was also eliminated from the Australian Amateur Championship in the opening round. Pegg validated his spot in the second round when he took the more fancied Gillespie all the way. Four-down through 11, Pegg had it all to do, but he fought back to level the match at the 17th and four extra holes were needed before he finally succumbed to his countryman. National Squad member Michael Foster had a 1up win over Travis O&aposConnell in the morning before going down 2/1 to Stroke Play Champion James Gill in a tight affair. Foster was one-down through five but regrouped and had the better of his opponent through the turn going one-up. However Gill found his groove on the back nine winning three of the next four holes to streak ahead, leaving the Aussie in his wake. Fellow Australian Tim Stewart was never in his contest, bowing out 5/4 to Kiwi contender Danny Lee. The quarter-finals get underway Saturday morning. Click here to view the match play bracket
Author: Alistair Hogg