Ghim can make it a Texas two-step with victory in U.S. Amateur final

   For the second weekend in a row, a Texas golfer will be playing for a U.S. Amateur championship.

   Last week at San Diego Country Club, Sophia Schubert won the U.S. Women’s Amateur title, playing nearly flawless golf in taking down Stanford’s Albane Valenzuela, No. 3 in the Women’s World Amateur Ranking, 6 and 5 in the scheduled 36-hole final.

   Sunday, Longhorns senior Doug Ghim of Arlington Heights, Ill. will try to make it a Texas two-step as he takes on Clemson sophomore Doc Redman in a scheduled 36-hole final at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

   The ascendancy of college golfers is a relatively recent development in the long and storied history of these two championships, but no school has ever been able to boast the holders of both the Robert Cox and Havemeyer trophies at the same time.

   Ghim, No. 7 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, was in control throughout and held on for a 2 and 1 victory over Vanderbilt senior Theo Humphrey of Greenwich, Conn. in one of Saturday’s semifinals to book his ticket to the final.

   Redman, one of the survivors of a 13-man playoff for the final eight spots in the match-play bracket, parred the familiar 18^th hole at Riviera to claim a 1-up decision over Virginia Tech junior Mark Lawrence of Richmond, Va. in the other semifinal.

   The 21-year-old Ghim, the Big 12’s Player of the Year in 2016-2017, built a 4-up lead on Humphrey by winning the sixth with a birdie, the eighth with an eagle, the 11^th with a conceded eagle and the 12^th with a par.

   Humphrey battled back by winning the 14^th and 16^th holes with pars, but he was in too deep a hole to get out of. When the two halved the par-5 17 with pars, Ghim was through to the final.

   “It’s something you dream of,” Ghim told the USGA website. “To be playing well means a ton to me. I don’t take lightly how significant it is to be playing out there (Sunday) and having a chance to be in the history books. The great champions of this game all started here. It’s crazy to think about it.”

   Ghim will be bidding to become the third Texas Longhorn to claim the U.S. Amateur title, joining David Gossett, the 1999 winner, and Justin Leonard, the 1992 champion.

   Redman of Raleigh, N.C. also got the early jump in his match with Lawrence, winning the third, fourth and fifth holes to turn a 1-down deficit to a 2-up advantage.

   He stayed in front until the par-5 17th when both players reached the green in two by bombing a 3-wood from more than 240 yards away. Lawrence was just inside of Redman and got a great read from Redman’s eagle try and did not miss, sending the match to the 18^th hole all square.

   Lawrence’s approach to the 18^th went to the back of the green and he just couldn’t control the speed as his putt trickled to the front fringe, not far from where Redman’s approach had finished. Redman was able to get a routine two-putt par and Lawrence couldn’t get his par putt to fall.

   Redman will be trying to become just the second Clemson golfer to win the U.S. Amateur. The Tigers' only champion was the large man with the remarkable touch around the greens, Chris Patton, who joined Bobby Jones, Dottie Porter, Ben Hogan, Gary Cowan, Lee Trevino and Justin Rose in the marquee list of champions at Merion Golf Club’s East Course by winning the 1989 U.S. Amateur at the classic Hugh Wilson layout in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township.