Hertfordshire's Jack Bigham's bid to add another R&A title to his collection came together as the Walker Cup player advanced to 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 double with two separate match victories at Glashedy Links. Bigham was three behind in his second round match against South African Jordan Burnand but birdied four on the back-9 to turn the game around and claim a hard-earned 3&1 victory. The Florida State University student carried that momentum into his third match against Ukraine's Lev Grinberg this afternoon and won four of the first five holes to take a commanding lead on his way to a 5&4 victory.
Bigham's team-mate Dominic Clemons also has another silver lining in his eyes after advancing to the final with a 4&3 win over Walker Cup player James Ashfield of Wales. Clemons, who has posted a string of impressive results on the US college circuit 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 impressive 17 shots. Ashfield had won his opening two ties by a 6 & 4 margin, but met his match in Clemons, who recorded a convincing victory highlighted by a 40-foot birdie putt on the 9th.th the pit that put him four up.
Germany's Laurenz Schiergen beat Connor Graham in the second round before reaching the quarter-finals for the second time in three years by winning the first extra hole against Charlie Forster.
In a close joust, Schiergen held a narrow one-hole lead after a strong run of 15 pars and one birdie but a bogey on the 17th, only his second in two games during the day, allowed Forster to draw level. . England's bogey on the first extra hole proved costly, however, as Schiergen, aiming to become only the second German to reach the final after Christian Reimbold in 2000, set up a last eight with Clemons.
Walker Cup player Calum Scott continued his fine form to keep hopes of a first Scottish victory since 2014 alive. In a tight third-round contest with Dylan Shaw-Radford, the 21-year-old, a quarter-finalist at home in Nairn in 2021, made a late birdie and birdied 14 and 15 on his way to 3&2. victory.
Luke Sample's outstanding debut at The Amateur Championship was rewarded with a last-eight spot as the New Yorker defeated Harry Crockett 5&3. Earlier in the day, Sample had thwarted the Walker Cup aspirations of Conor Gough with a 3&2 victory in the second round.
Sample is the last remaining player from the United States of America after Tommy Morrison played the 18th and lost by one hole to England's Matthew Dodd-Berry, who has his 15-year-old brother as his player.
Spain's Marcel Fonseca, who defeated Iceland's Arni Gunnlaugur Sveinsson by one hole, and Denmark's Jacob Skov Olesen, who won after two extra holes against Tom Osborne, made for a remarkable quarter-final tie.
View match play scores from the Amateur Championship here.
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