Noah Norton (Photo by Clyde Click/Georgia Tech Athletics)
The final four players remain at Pinehurst for the semifinals of the North & South Amateur. After two more rounds of match play at Pinehurst No. 2 on Friday, only Cooper Dossey, Blake Taylor, Noah Norton and Hunter Wolcott remain.
Dossey had perhaps the most notable victory of the day, taking down No. 1 seed Ricky Castillo in the quarterfinal. It was a close match between Dossey, the Baylor player, and Castillo, the No. 2-ranked junior in the country. Castillo took Dossey to the 18th before coming out ahead there.
After his brother Sam carried his bag for the first three rounds of the North & South, Dossey’s younger brother Luke, who will join him at Baylor this fall, took over on Friday, according to tournament officials.
“It’s really special. (Luke and Sam) have watched me struggle the last two years; they’re my best friends,” said Dossey
Earlier in the morning, Castillo had taken down Monroe Invitational winner Andy Ogletree, who plays for Georgia Tech.
Dossey now will meet Blake Taylor in the semifinal on Saturday morning. Taylor and his Eastern Carolina teammate Logan Shuping were runners-up in the U.S. Amateur Four Ball last month at Bandon Dunes.
On the bottom half of the bracket, Noah Norton got through two tough matches to reach Saturday’s semifinal. He beat Canadian mid-amateur Garrett Rank in the morning, 2 and 1, then took down incoming Texas freshman Travis Vick, 1 up, in the afternoon.
“This is my first time here,” Norton said. “It’s a tough course. You just never know where you are on the hole. It’s just about sticking to the game plan and fighting to the last second.”
Norton now will face Wolcott, who plays for Tennessee, in the next round. Wolcott won a close match against Joey Savoie in the quarterfinals that went 20 holes. Wolcott had squared it on the 18th hole to force sudden death.
“I felt good on this (18th) green; I made about a 40-footer here yesterday to win my match,” said Wolcott, the son of former PGA pro Bob Wolcott. “I hit a great drive, I knew I was putting dead uphill, that’s what I wanted and got a good read on it.”
After both players made par on the first playoff hole, Wolcott holed his 12-footer for birdie to advance..
“In sudden death, you’ve got to make a birdie, get birdie looks, because you know your opponent’s going to gun for it. We both hit good shots into one – didn’t make them, and both hit good shots into two, and I made mine,” said Wolcott.
Quotes in this article courtesy Pinehurst Resort
ABOUT THE
North & South Amateur
The North & South Amateur Championship is the
longest consecutively run amateur tournament in
the
United States. Its past winners list includes names
like
Walter
Travis, Francis Ouimet, Billy Joe Patton, Jack
Nicklaus
and Curtis Strange. The field is made up of invited
players as well as open applications. Two rounds of
stroke
play are followed by five rounds of match play
(32
qualifiers) to determine the Champion. All stroke
& match play rounds are contested on
Pinehurst No. 2.
View Complete Tournament Information