Nienaber knocks out Weiland to reach the third round of The 123rd Amateur Championship

Wilco Nienaber eased his way into the third round of The 123rd Amateur Championship with a comfortable 5&4 victory over Niclas Weiland.

By Latha 21 June 2018

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South African Amateur Wilco Nienaber leading match play stage of The 123rd Amateur Championship

Jun 21, 2018: Wilco Nienaber eased his way into the third round of The 123rd Amateur Championship with a comfortable 5&4 victory over Niclas Weiland at Royal Aberdeen today.

The 18-year-old South African continued the dominating form which saw him lead both rounds of stroke play qualifying to progress to the last 32. His countryman Matt Saulez recorded the championship’s first hole in one at the 11th during his match with Benjamin Jones but it failed to inspire him to victory as he went down by 2 holes to the Englishman.

The highest-ranked player in the field, Viktor Hovland booked his place in the third round after coming through his match against Lukas Euler 5&4. The Norwegian, fifth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking^TM, dispatched the German, who defeated Mexican Alvaro Ortiz in the preliminary round to set up the match with Hovland.

The impressive Norwegian who plays collegiate golf at Oklahoma State in the US will now take on England’s Thomas Forster in the third round on Thursday.

Walker Cup player Matthew Jordan composed himself after surrendering a 4-hole lead against Finland’s Matias Honkala. After his opponent missed a 5ft putt for the match on the 19^th, the world No.7 and current Lytham Trophy champion holed from 15ft at the 20^th to win the hole and progress to the next round.

Forres’ Jeff Wright defeated Euan McIntosh by one hole to come out on top in the battle of the Scots. Wright is one of three home players to continue alongside Nairn’s Sandy Scott and Stuart Easton from Irvine. Scott defeated German Claudio Consul 3&2 while Easton knocked out Australia’s Will Heffernan by one hole.

In an exciting finish on the 19^th hole, Ireland’s James Sugrue booked his place in the third round after Australian Michael Kyle lost his tee shot. With last year’s leading qualifier Caolan Rafferty on the bag, the Cork golfer parred the final hole to take advantage of his opponent’s mistake.

His countryman and St Andrews squad member Robin Dawson followed him through with a 4&2 win over David Ravetto from France. From the Irish contingent, John Murphy, Conor Purcell and Rowan Lester also progressed to Thursday’s third round.

The third round gets underway on Thursday at Royal Aberdeen at 7.30am. For scoring please visit Randa.org.