Malone’s Matthew McClean will fly the flag for Ireland in the quarter-final of the South African Amateur Championship in Mount Edgecombe.
McClean saw off Pascal Gunther in the second round this morning by a 3&2 margin to advance to the last-16 in the afternoon where he was a comfortable 4&3 winner over surprise package Christian Heyman.
The US Mid-Amateur champion never trailed in his last-16 clash and set the tone early with an opening bogey to edge his nose in front.
A concession on the fourth levelled matters before the Augusta bound golfer took control of the tie winning three holes on the trot before the turn to move 3UP.
A birdie on the par-3 12th moved McClean 4UP and he never looked back.
It was a potential banana skin averted from McClean after Heyman claimed the scalp of the reigning Amateur Champion Aldrich Potgieter this morning.
Naas man Robert Brazill came out on the wrong side of a tight battle with Daniel Bennett in his last-16 tie going down 2&1.
It was a match that was nip and tuck throughout with Brazill not taking the lead until birdies on 12 and 13 saw him go from 1DN to 1UP but Bennett capitalised on back-to-back bogeys from the Connacht Strokeplay champion to win three successive holes and move 2UP.
Brazill had come through a nailbiting second round tie with Warwick Purchase to win on the 19th in the morning.
Walker Cup panelists Robert Moran and Peter O’Keeffe edged their morning second round ties but were comfortably beaten in the afternoon, bringing their good runs to an end.
Scoring HERE
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