Hertfordshire’s Jack Bigham’s bid to add another R&A title to his collection gathered pace as the Walker Cup player surged into the quarter-finals of The 129th Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin.
The 20-year-old from Harpenden, who won the R&A Boys’ Amateur Championship in 2021, stayed on course for a notable double with two contrasting match play victories over the Glashedy Links. Bigham had been three-down at the turn in his second-round encounter with South Africa’s Jordan Burnand but reeled off four birdies on the back-nine to turn the match around and seal a hard-earned 3&1 victory. The Florida State University student carried that momentum into his third-round duel with Ukraine’s Lev Grinberg in the afternoon and won four of the first five holes to forge a commanding lead on his way to a 5&4 victory.
Bigham’s compatriot, Dominic Clemons, also has another silver lining in his sights after sweeping into the last-eight with a 4&3 win over Walker Cup player James Ashfield of Wales. Clemons, who has posted a series of impressive results on the US college scene this season, made a significant statement of intent earlier this month when he won the Scottish Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Muirfield by an extraordinary 17 shots. Ashfield had won his opening two ties by a 6&4 margin, but he met his match in Clemons, who recorded a convincing win highlighted by a 40-foot birdie putt on the 9th hole which put him four-up.
Germany’s Laurenz Schiergen claimed the scalp of the top qualifier, Connor Graham, in round two before securing a quarter-final berth for the second time in three years with a win on the first extra hole against Charlie Forster.
In a closely fought joust, Schiergen was holding a slender one-hole lead after a steady run of 15 pars and one birdie but a bogey on the 17th, only his second in two matches during the day, allowed Forster to draw level. The Englishman’s own bogey at the first extra hole proved costly, however, as Schiergen, aiming to become just the second German to reach the final after Christian Reimbold in 2000, set up a last-eight match with Clemons.
Walker Cup player Calum Scott continued his fine form to keep hopes of a first Scottish win since 2014 alive. In a tight third-round encounter with Dylan Shaw-Radford, the 21-year-old, who was a quarter-finalist at his home course of Nairn in 2021, made a telling late thrust and birdied 14 and 15 en route to a 3&2 victory.
Luke Sample’s excellent debut in The Amateur Championship was rewarded with a place in the last-eight as the New Yorker beat Harry Crockett 5&3. Earlier in the day, Sample had thwarted the ambitions of Walker Cup player, Conor Gough, with a 3&2 win in the second round.
Sample is the last remaining player from the United States of America after the towering Tommy Morrison bogeyed the 18th to lose by one hole to England’s Matthew Dodd-Berry, who has his 15-year-old brother as his caddie.
Spain’s Marcel Fonseca, who beat Iceland’s Arni Gunnlaugur Sveinsson by one hole, and Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen, winner after two extra holes against Tom Osborne, make up an intriguing quarter-final draw.
View match play scoring from The Amateur Championship here.
