And so Australia’s successful week in golf continues.
Brett Coletta was confirmed as the 2015 US Amateur Medalist in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Chicago, as 54 players completed their second round without bettering 7-under benchmark set by the Victorian.
Coletta went to bed that evening as the almost-certain Medalist, and should have enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in while many in the field rose early to complete their second rounds and/or compete in an 18-man playoff for the final 10 places.
Australia is lucky to more than one horse in this race, with Queenslander Maverick Antcliff the 7th seed and Victoria’s Ryan Ruffels the 8th seed.
All three are penciled in to face golfers currently battling the 18-for-10 playoff, with their Round of 64 matches to commence in the afternoon.
Ruffels and Antcliffe should be on course by 5am EST, with Coletta set to tee of in his match just before 6am at 2:55pm Chicago time. All three will find themselves in the spotlight, with the afternoon matchplay rounds brodcast live around America.
Providing Coletta and Ruffels survive their opening three matchplay rounds, the seedings have set up a mouth-watering all Victorian Quarter Final on Friday.
Australia's representation at the US Amateur is limited to its three top-10 seeds, with the remaining six missing the cut and heading home, or at least remaining for bag duties.
The unluckiest of the group is Lucas Herbert, who missed the playoff by a shot despite an impressive final round of 70 on the South Course.
Austin Bautista (T89), Cameron Davis (T189), Troy Moses (T189), Curtis Luck (T212) and Antonio Murdaca (T232) are the remaining Australians to miss the cut.