Eugene Wong Stages Thrilling US Amateur Comeback

Wong is the lone Canadian in still in action at Chambers Bay in University Place, WA after Abbotsford's Nick Taylor was eliminated 4 & 2 by Chan Kim of Gilbert, Ariz., and 2010 Canadian Amateur champion Albin Choi of Toronto had his come-back stopped on the 18th hole by in a two-up victory by Morgan Hoffmann of Wyckoff, N.J.

Seeded 13th following the two round stroke play portion of the championship, Wong was facing Joe Saladino of Huntington, N.Y. in the first of six rounds of match play competition.

A pivital member of the University of Oregon Ducks golf team heading into his senior year, Wong pared the first hole of the day to go one up and held that lead for the opening three holes until Saladino won at the 4th hole with an eagle and then took the lead with an eagle-two at the 508-yard par-four 5th hole. However, Wong wasted no time recovering, scoring a birdie at #6 to get back to all-square.

When Wong double-bogeyed the par-three 9th hole Saladino scored a birdie to take a 1-up lead, increased it to 2-up with a par at 13, then moved to to 3-up at 14 when Wong bogeyed for the second hole in a row.

Three down with three holes to go, Wong rebounded with birdies at 16 and 17. At the 18th Wong bogeyed but Saladino proceeded to double bogeyed to send their match to an extra hole. Wong then won the match with a birdie on the first extra hole after Saladino double bogeyed for the second hole in a row.

Taylor, seeded 18th , was up against Chan Kim of Gilbert, Ariz. Kim won the 2nd hole and never trailed from that point on. Although Taylor squared the match at the 7th he fell behind on the next hole before recovering with an eagle-2 at the 10th, but that's as close as he got on the day. Kim moved to 2-up at the 12th, increased it to 3-up with a birdie at 15 and eliminated Taylor with another birdie at 16 to win 4-up.

Choi, the Canadian Amateur Champion, took the first lead in his match with a par at the third hole but gave it up with a double bogey-7 at the 607-yard par 5 8th hole and fell behind 1-up at the 9th. He dropped to 2-down at 13th and was 3-down after a Hoffman birdie at 15. But Choi was not giving up. He birdied 16 and pared 17 and was only down by one hole heading for the 18th tee but a missed putt and a final bogey spelled the end.