Victorian Lukas Michel has kept Australia’s hopes of a first US Mid-Amateur title alive by advancing to the final eight at Colorado Golf Club.
Michel defeated American Nick Nosewicz 2&1 in the morning’s round of 32 match and continued his impressive run of form in Denver straight after lunch with a 4&3 win.
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The Metropolitan member never relinquished the lead in his round of 16 match over American Dan Ellis, sealing the match with a 10ft birdie on the par-5 15th.
“I knew I'd been playing well leading into the event, but any time you've got 264 players to get down to the top eight is always going to be a challenge,” Michel said.
“I birdied two, hit it pretty close there, and then I guess we sort of traded blows throughout the front nine, but I kind of kept a pretty good lead.”
“I'm obviously pleased with how far I've got so far and looking forward to hopefully continuing.”
Michel is a proven match play golfer, having played a key role on the triumphant Victorian Men’s State Team in each of the last three years.
Reaching the final eight has already earned Michel a start in next year's US Mid-Amateur, but the biggest prize on offer this week goes to the winner in the form of a spot in the field at the 2020 Masters.
“I've had some pretty good success in match play tournaments,” Michel said.
“I've made the semi final of the South Australian Amateur last year, and made the match play at the Aussie Am at the beginning of this year, got beaten by a really good player from Japan.
“I'm pretty confident leading into the rest of the week.
“I'm getting a lot of good support, messages and phone calls and stuff. It's exciting.”
The World No.287 amateur will square off against No.2843 Jacob Koppenberg tomorrow morning.
Michel’s road to the quarter finals:
69-76 in stroke play to earn the No. 46 seed
R64: Def. Marc Engellenner 2-up
R32: Def. Nick Nosewicz, 2&1
R16: Def. Dan Ellis, 4&3