As the saying goes, two out of three ain’t bad.
Ryan Ruffels and Maverick Antcliff advanced to the US Amateur Championship round of 32 today with very different wins at Olympia Fields.
But on a tumultuous day for Brett Coletta, the key member of Victoria’s champion Interstate Series team bowed out after earlier winning medallist honours as the winner of the strokeplay section.
With the second of strokeplay delayed into day three, Coletta had to wait for what must have seemed an age before his seven-under tally won the day.
But as the No.1 seed in the matchplay, he bowed out in a tense match with American Kyle Mueller, losing 1-down after a gallant comeback.
Coletta had been 3-down as late as the 14th hole, but wins on the 15th and 17th gave him an outside hope.
But Mueller, of Georgia, made a par up the last hole to halve the hole and knock off the top seed.
There were no such dramatics for Ruffels, who blew away the highly ranked Beau Hossler.
Hossler, who came to world fame when he qualified for the US Open as a 16-year-old in 2011, then led the second major of the year briefly in 2012, was ranked just three slots behind Ruffels (No.9) in the world rankings before today’s match.
But the young Melburnian put paid to the American’s hopes very quickly, made three birdies in the opening five holes to grab control that he never relinquished.
The Golf Australia national squad member was two under after 14 holes when a bogey cost Hossler a 5&4 defeat.
Antcliff, conversely, led at no stage of his match other than walking off the 18th green.
The young Queenslander, who attends the Georgia Regents University in Augusta, was 3-down through five holes, before fighting back to all square with a par on the 12th.
But his opponent Adrian Meronk regained the lead with a birdie on the 14th – a break he maintained until the 17th hole.
Antcliff, though, would simply not lie down and his par-par finish overwhelmed his Polish opponent for a 1-up victory.
Ruffels, seeded 8th after strokeplay, faces American 40th seed Todd Mitchell in tomorrow’s round of 32, while Antcliff (7) plays in a battle of the Mavericks against American McNealy (39).