Aug. 23, 2006
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s Roberto Castro, who survived an 11-man playoff Wednesday morning to make the match-play field at the U.S. Amateur Championship, knocked off the No. 2 seed, Mark Harrell of Hazelhurst, Ga., 3 and 2, in the first round Wednesday afternoon.
The championship is being played at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.
Castro, a three-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference performer for the Yellow Jackets, will face Joseph Bramlett of Saratoga, Calif., in his second-round match at 9:20 a.m. Thursday. Bramlett defeated Julien Guerrier of France, 2 and 1. The winner will advance to a third-round match against either Webb Simpson of Raleigh, N.C. or Todd Mitchell of Bloomington, Ill., Thursday afternoon.
The Golf Channel will provide coverage of Thursday’s action from 4-6 p.m., and the matches can be followed live at www.usamateur.org.
After splitting the first two holes, the All-American from Alpharetta, Ga., grabbed the lead for good with a birdie on the par-5, 633-yard third hole. Castro extended his lead at the fifth when Harrell bogeyed, and again with a birdie at the par-5 seventh.
Castro opened a 4-up lead with another birdie at the 10th. Each player bogeyed to lose holes at 12 and 13, and halved the 14th to give Castro a four-hole lead with four to go. Harrell survived with a birdie to win 15 before Castro closed out the match with a par at 16.
Castro, who shot 2-over-par 74 Tuesday at Hazeltine during the stroke-play qualifier, birdied five holes Wednesday and was 2-under-par over the 16 holes he played.
