PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Alabama men’s golfer Davis Riley defeated Ryan Burnett 2&1 on Wednesday to advance to the round of 32 in the match play portion at the 2018 United States Amateur Championship.
With the victory, Riley moves on to the second round of match play for the second time in three years, previously reaching the round of 32 in 2016.
After a back-and-forth battle through the first nine holes that saw each golfer take a one-hole lead, Riley converted back-to-back pars on holes 10 and 11 to take a 2-hole lead. A birdie by Burnett on the par-4 15th hole closed the gap to one, but Riley put the match away with a birdie on the 17th to claim the victory.
Riley, a native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, moves on to play the winner between No. 1 seed Daniel Hillier and Jacob Bergeron. The round of 32 match will begin at 10 a.m. CT on Thursday morning. A victory in that match would propel Riley to the round of 16, which will take place later that same day.
