SOUTHPORT, England – It may have taken more holes than he wanted, but Mats Ege (Kristiansand, Norway) is moving on at the 128th Amateur Championship.
Ege defeated Switzerland’s Nicola Gerhardsen on the 27th hole to capture the win in his opener of the match play event on Wednesday from Hillside Golf Club in Southport, England.
Wednesday’s match featured a lot of twists and turns, but when everything was settled, Ege was moving on.
Despite getting off to a good start where Ege was two-under through the first five holes, the Buccaneer found himself down one to Gerhardsen. Ege dropped another hole on No. 6 to sit two back of Gerhardsen – who won the Ticino Championship back in April.
Momentum then shifted and Ege pulled even through 11 holes. On No. 7, Ege rolled in a 20-footer and tied the match up with an eagle on No. 11.
The see-saw affair continued as Ege had his second three-putt of the day on No. 14 to fall behind by one, but the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Year quickly bounced back by winning the next two holes to go up by one. Ege birdied No. 15 and won No. 16.
With both golfers tying No. 17, Ege took the lead to the 18th tee box, but he got into some trouble as his approach shot landed into a bunker and eventually dropped the hole to Gerhardsen, forcing the match to go extra holes.
With extra holes in store, there was a lot more drama in the playoff.
On the first hole, Ege had a 12-footer to put the match away, but he couldn’t sink the putt, giving Gerhardsen an opportunity with his 7-footer to extend play. On the next hole, Ege two-putted his way to a birdie, while Gerhardsen made a 6-foot putt to extend the match.
After both players missed their birdie putts on No. 3, Ege was faced with a 25-foot par putt on No. 4, which he calmly rolled in – putting the pressure back on Gerhardsen. Gerhardsen responded with a 15-footer of his own to keep the match alive. With neither golfer putting an end to the match on No. 5, they went another hole – and this time – Gerhardsen connected on a 50-foot par putt to extend play. On No. 7, Ege kept his tournament play alive with a 12-foot putt, while he left his 10-footer short on No. 8, forcing things to go one more hole.
Playing a marathon match, Ege finally put an end to things on the 27th hole (No. 9). Ege hit his wedge to the exact same spot where he was on Monday in the stroke play portion of play at Hillside. Being in that exact location paid dividends as Ege made his 10-foot putt for the win and advanced to the third round of the match play portion of the Amateur Championship.
Ege will now face South Africa’s Christo Lamprecht on Thursday at 4:27 a.m. ET. Lamprecht, a junior at Georgia Tech, is a two-time GCAA All-American and was a finalist for the Fred Haskins Award this past season. Lamprecht is ranked No. 6 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, while Ege is No. 80.
Matty Dodd-Berry was also in action on Wednesday, but he dropped his opening match to Sweden’s Adam Wallin, 3&2. Wallin is a junior at Ohio State where he has earned all-Big Ten honors and was named PING All-Midwest Region.
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