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The Amateur
Fang defeats Graham en route to quarter-finals of The Amateur Championship
19 Jun 25
Long Read
Ethan Fang of the United States faced a tough challenge during the second day of match play at The 130th Amateur Championship to book his place in tomorrow’s quarter-final showdown at Royal St George’s.
The 20-year-old Oklahoma State student rallied in both matches to secure his place in the last eight after coming from three-down to beat top qualifier Connor Graham of Scotland on the 20th hole in the morning, before defeating Milan Reed in convincing fashion this afternoon. Fang, the seventh-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings® (WAGR®), started his day slowly against the in-form Graham, making three bogeys in his opening four holes to give his opponent a head start. Finding himself two-down with two holes to play in a gusty south-easterly Sandwich Bay breeze, Fang recorded back-to-back birdies to take his match against an in-control Graham to extra holes. His golfing pedigree was on full display in front of the many spectators who gathered to watch the grandstand finish, making another birdie on the 20th hole to seal his place in the final-16. He rode the wave of momentum into his tie against Reed this afternoon, eventually defeating the Englishman 5&4. Having made the last-eight at the US Amateur Championship in 2024, he will now draw on that experience as he plays Callixte Alzas from France in the first of four quarter-final matches tomorrow. Fang said: “It was fun. It was a lot of golf, but that morning match, was definitely a grind. Connor (Graham) had the lead on me pretty much all round until I won. He was two-up with two to play and I made two really good birdies and hit a really good shot into the 20th hole. “It was a good win, but then I knew I had a tee time in an hour and a half, so I had to really reset and just get back into that mindset. Then the afternoon round, putts started dropping and it was just a good match. I was kind of just cruising in.“I've played a lot of match play in my life. Getting to the quarter-finals at the US Amateur definitely helped me deal with the pressure and the moment. Going into this, it kind of calms myself down a little bit, and just staying sharp.” France is well represented in the final eight with Matthis Lefevre continuing his positive form from the stroke play, defeating Junior Ryder Cup player Kris Kim by 2&1 this morning, before getting the better of South Africa’s Daniel Bennett by a 4&3 margin this afternoon.
Matthis Lefevre will compete in the quarter-final of The Amateur Championship.
Lefevre, who has made the match play in four of the last five years, faced a tough opponent in Kim, the pair trading the advantage four times in a tight tussle that eventually went the Frenchman’s way thanks to a birdie at the 16th hole followed by a concession from his opponent at the next.
The 24-year-old will now face Finland’s Veikka Viskari who easily disposed of Germany’s Laurenz Schiergen 5&4 in his opening tie of the day, before defeating Rintaro Nakano of Japan 3&2 in the afternoon to book his place in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Billy Dowling has been quietly plotting his way around the famed Royal St George’s links this week and feels his game is in a great place to go all the way.
The 20-year-old played near-perfect golf this morning, making four birdies and an eagle to comfortably win his tie against Rodrigo Vazquez of Mexico 5&3. He then dropped just two shots in his 3&2 victory over Filippo Ponzano of Italy.
Dowling said: “I feel great. I played really well today, both in the first match and then this afternoon. I don't think I did too much wrong, to be honest. I stuck to my game plan the whole day and I'm just happy it paid off.
“My caddie really kept me level-headed the whole way, just one shot at a time, one hole at a time. I never got too ahead of myself if I was up, and if I was down, I just held in there and I just felt like it was a good game plan."
He’ll face another Italian in the quarter-final when he goes up against Riccardo Fantinelli who played his way into the last-eight with wins over Canadian Isaiah Ibit (3&2) and Germany’s Tim Wiedemeyer (3&1).
Finally, Gavin Tiernan of Ireland has endured a week longer than most, progressing to the quarter-finals after earning his way into the Championship via Pre-Qualifying at Royal Cinque Ports last week.
Gavin Tiernan arrived at The Amateur Championship having made it through Pre-Qualifying
The Irishman is playing quality golf, highlighted by a birdie on the 18th this morning to progress past Jarno Tollenaire of Belgium, and then outlasting his French opponent, Gaspar Glaudas, by a 3&2 margin this afternoon.
He will face Richard Teder of Estonia, who was also a quarter-finalist in 2023 but eliminated by the eventual champion, Christo Lamprecht of South Africa. The 20-year-old finds himself back in the final-eight thanks to his win over Ugo Malcor of France, who took him to the 21st hole, and his 3&2 victory against American Ben Gregg.
The Championship, first hosted at Hoylake in 1885, boasts an impressive list of former champions including Sir Michael Bonallack, Jose Maria Olazabal, Sergio Garcia and more recently, Aldrich Potgieter.
The winner of this year’s Championship gains entry to The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush, the US Open and, by tradition, will earn an invitation to compete at the Masters Tournament. In addition to three major championships, they also earn a place in the field at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo on the DP World Tour.
Spectators are welcome and can attend free of charge. For those following along at home, The R&A will provide live broadcast coverage of the quarter-finals and semi-finals on Friday, 20 June and the 36-hole Final on Saturday, 21 June. Fans in the UK can watch all the action live on Sky Sports, while livestreams are available globally on R&A TV and on The R&A’s YouTube channel.