Aug. 24, 2006
Mizzou senior John Kelly remained alive at the U.S. Amateur Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn. by defeating Eddie Olson, 4&3, on Wednesday to advance to the round of 16. He will face Jon McLean on Friday at 8:30 a.m. for a chance to move onto the quarterfinals.
The next round was originally scheduled for Thursday afternoon, but due to a rain delay in Thursday morning's round, play has been pushed back. The winner of the Kelly-McLean match will advance to the quarterfinals and play Friday afternoon for a chance to advance to the semifinals.
Kelly dropped the first hole of Thursday's round to Olson, but won the second hole to draw the match to all-square and did not drop another hole the rest of the round.
A field of 312 out of 7,182 entries advanced to the U.S. Amateur Championship this week. Kelly finished 25th after two rounds of stroke play to advance to the 64-player field for the match play portion of the tournament. He then defeated Daryl Fathauer 3&1 on Wednesday before taking the victory over Olson.
The senior from St. Louis qualified for the U.S. Amateur by carding a two-round total of 141 at Sunnyside Country Club in Waterloo, Iowa.
The U.S. Amateur champion receives an exemption into the 2007 U.S. Open and British Open and a probable invitation to play in the 2007 Masters Tournament.
