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University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina's Martin Ureta Advances To Finals Of U.S. Amateur Public Links
July 15, 2005 | Men's Golf
July 15, 2005
Lebanon, Ohio - Martin Ureta, a rising junior on North Carolina's golf team, advanced to the finals of the U.S. Amateur Public Links after defeating Rory Hie, 4 and 2, in the quarterfinals and Anthony Kim, 1 up (20 holes), in the semifinals. Ureta will play Clay Ogden, a rising junior at Brigham Young, in the 36-hole final on Saturday.
Ureta, from Santiago, Chile, grabbed the lead early in his quarterfinal match with Hie, a 16-year-old from Lakewood, Calif., and never looked back, winning 4 and 2. Ureta was 1 up after two holes, 2 up after three holes and 4 up after 10 holes. Hie cut the lead back to 2 up after the 13th and 14th holes, but Ureta birdied 15 to go back to 3 up and Hie bogied No. 16 to put Ureta 4 up.
In the semifinal match with Kim, neither player was ever up by more than 2. Kim, an All-America at Oklahoma, took the lead on the first hole while Ureta grabbed the lead on the 10th hole. Ureta won the 12th hole to go 2 up, but bogied at 13 to go back to 1 up. Kim birdied No. 17 to square the match and the match remained deadlocked after the regulation 18 holes. After several delays due to weather, Ureta and Kim returned to the first hole where both players carded par 5s. Ureta carded a birdie 3 on the 2nd playoff hole (20th hole) to take the match, 1 up.
The 36-hole final of the match-play event will be played Saturday beginning at 7:30 a.m. at Shaker Run in Lebanon, Ohio, a par 70, 6,966-yard layout. All eight quarterfinalists earned exemptions to the 2006 U.S. Amateur Public Links. The two finalists, Ureta and Ogden, receive exemptions to the upcoming U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., and the champion usually gets a trip to the next year's Masters.
