Ghim heads talented foursome of U.S. Amateur semifinalists

   And then there were four.  And, not surprisingly, they are all top college players who will battle it out Saturday in the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

   Doug Ghim is still in with a shot to give Texas a sweep of the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Amateur in consecutive weekends. The senior from Arlington Heights, Ill. pulled out a 2 and 1 victory over Connor Syme of Scotland in Friday’s quarterfinals.

   Ghim will face a tough opponent as he bids to join Sophia Schubert, who won the U.S. Women’s Amateur down the coast at San Diego Country Club last weekend, and bring another of the most prestigious trophies in amateur golf back to Austin.

   The 21-year-old Ghim will battle 21-year-old Theo Humphrey of Greenwich, Conn., a senior at Vanderbilt, in Saturday morning’s semifinals. The other half of the draw features a battle between Mark Lawrence Jr. of Richmond Va., a junior at Virginia Tech, and Doc Redman of Raleigh, N.C., a sophomore at  Clemson.

   Ghim survived a tough test in a second-round match against Sahith Theegala, a junior at Pepperdine from Chino Hills, Calif. Thursday morning. Ghim, No. 7 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, had to go to the 19^th hole before getting past Theegala. In the round of 16 Thursday afternoon, Ghim claimed a comparatively easier 3 and 2 victory over Joey Vrzich of El Cajon, Calif., who will start his college career at Nevada in a couple of weeks.

   But there really are no easy matches in the U.S. Amateur and, as if to prove that point, Ghim hooked up with Syme, No. 13 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, in Friday’s quarterfinals.

   Ghim put a nose in front of Syme when he made a birdie at the 10^th. Another birdie at 13 gave him a 2-up advantage. Syme won the 14^th hole with a par to cut his deficit to 1-down. They both made a mess of the par-3 16^th, but Ghim a little less so, winning the hole with a bogey to go 2-up with two holes to go. They halved the par-5 17^th and Ghim was in the semifinals.

   Humphrey, a member of a very strong Vanderbilt team that was the top seed in match play in the NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms, had to rally to claim a 1-up decision over Arizona State sophomore Chun An Yu of Chinese Taipei.

   The 20-year-old Lawrence earned a 3 and 2 decision over Dawson Armstrong, a senior at Lipscomb from Brentwood, Tenn. Armstrong’s individual title in the College Grove Regional last spring led Lipscomb to an unlikely berth in the NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms.

   The 19-year-old Redman pulled out a 1-up decision over Travis Smyth of Australia, who was bidding to make it two straight Aussie U.S. Amateur winners after countryman Curtis Luck took the title a year ago.