THE GOG BLOG by RORY SPEARS, Director of Content and Creation, with Patrick Flavin at Sunset Ridge Country Club, home of this weeks 116th Western Amateur. Follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy and on Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram.           _____________________________________________________________________

Cole Hammer on green (L) with Spencer Ralston on green (m) walk to their golf balls on the 17th green.

IT’S DOWN TO THE FINAL FOUR after another 36 hole day for most of the players that were left in the Sweet 16, that is unless your Davis Riley of Alabama who won his matches 4&3 and 5&4 and is the only player remaining that did not have to play 30 holes on Friday.

Medalist Cole Hammer headed to the University of Texas as a freshman, had a long day. His first match went 20 holes and had to survive a missed putt by his Sweet 16 opponent  and 16 seed Davis Shore. In afternoon match he was 2 Dn after 13 holes, but hung on to defeat University of Georgia Junior Spencer Ralston.

Ralston had to make a comeback on the back nine of his morning match against local favorite Patrick Flavin of Highwood, who is a recent graduate of the Miami of Ohio. Flavin the only Illinois player to make the match play, led 2 UP at the turn, before Ralston roared back to win 3&2.

After rolling in a 10 birdie putt on the 13th hole to go two up, Ralston’s drive on 14 was in the fairway but found a divot. His approach shot was a low liner that dove right of the green and behind a tree. That was the opening that Hammer needed to get back in the match. Hitting his approach shot 6 feet and making the birdie cut Ralston’s lead to 1 Up, and the momentum changed.

On the par 3, 15th Ralston missed a short putt and the match was squared. The par 5 16th saw Hammer get home in two shots, and make birdie to win his third straight hole and go 1 UP. After both players missed birdie and par putts on 17, the match went to the 18 hole.

After Hammer missed the green with his approach and the ball ended up in the high green side rough, Ralston hit his approach into 12 feet. Hammer almost holed his chip leaving the shot about 2 inches short of the cup. Ralston looking to force extra holes ran his putt over the edge of the cup, and Hammer moved on to Saturdays semi-finals and Ralston to Pebble Beach and the U.S. Amateur in two weeks.

Click here to hear interviews with Cole Hammer, and Spencer Ralston after their quarterfinal match.

Hammer will play Stanford’s Brandon Wu in the first semi-final on Saturday, with Riley the winner of the 2017 Fighting Illini Classic at Olympia Fields, playing Georgia Tech Jr. Tyler Strafaci, a 2 Up winner over Kaiwen Liu a freshman at California in the other semi-final. Liu’s teammate at Cal the highly ranked Collin Morikawa lost 4&2 to 13th seed John Augenstein in the Round of 16.

Tee times for the semi-finals are 8:00 Am and 8:12, and the championship match could start late in the noon hour. The championship presentation will start immediately after the conclusion of play. It’s the last day of Western Amateur play in the Chicago area until the year 2021. Next year the championship returns to Point O’Woods Country Club in Benton Harbor Michigan.

  CHICAGOLAND GOLF PUBLISHER VAL RUSSELL invites everyone to pick up a copy of the August issue of Chicagoland Golf, coming this week to area golf courses and golf retail stores. NEED NEW CLUBS time to Go Rogue Go CALLAWAY, Callawaygolf.com.  ______________________________________________________________________

THE GOG BLOG by RORY SPEARS, Director of Content and Creation. Follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy and on Facebook, Linkedin and now Instragram, with Patrick Flavin who T-6 after a second round 67.

THE 116TH WESTERN AMATEUR is rolling along at the Sunset Ridge Country Club in Northfield. Another thing rolling along are putts that are early and often finding the bottom of the cup.

The new promo for the Western Amateur should be, these kids are good, and they are.

Sunset Ridge at 6,823 yards is not the longest course, but the WGA tried to give these top amateurs a bit of a challenge by growing up the rough, making the greens very fast and tucking the pins. Guess what, it’s not working, as the cut will fall below par, maybe as low as five under par.

Click here to hear interviews with leader Spencer Ralston, Patrick Flavin and Collin Morikawa.

Even a double bogey could not slow down Ralston the University of Georgia golf team member that is headed to Pebble Beach as his next stop after the Western Amateur to play in the U.S. Amateur. Ralston who said he hit only one fairway all round, backed up his first round 63, with a 66.

Collin Morikawa from the University of California golf team who is also using the Western Amateur as his final tune up for the U.S. Amateur, said he is enjoying the championship, and the key is not short siding yourself because the WGA “really tucked some of the pins.”

Reigning Illinois Open Champion Patrick Flavin, carded his second straight 4 under par 67, and is T-10. Flavin says his putting has been good, after struggling with it a little earlier this year. Flavin will be the only player from the small Illinois contingent that will survive the first cut at the end of play after 36 holes.

westernamateurchampionship.com

Former NFL quarterback Tony Romo missed the 36 hole cut after rounds of 74-78, NHL referee Garrett Rank needs some birdies in round two to make the cut. Rank had a late tee time and was early in his round when play was suspended at 3:04 PM local time CST. Play then resumed after an 1 hour and 6 minute delay. Rank shot even par for round 2 and missed the cut. 44 players and ties from the field of 156 players, will advance to a 36 hole day on Thursday, to determine the Sweet 16 for match play that begins on Friday.

The championship semi-finals are Saturday morning, and the championship match is expected to start in the noon hour on Saturday. Braden Thornberry the #1 rated amateur in the world and a member of the Ole Miss golf team finished two shots inside the cut line, after a late rally late in his second round. Thornberry just barely survived the 36 hole cut.

The two days of match play will have live online streaming for the first time, on Golf Channel.com and westernamateurchampionship.com.