PINEHURST, N.C. – San Diego State sophomore Leo Oyo (Tokyo, Japan) captured his first-round match at the 2019 U.S. Amateur Championship on Wednesday, defeating fellow Aztec teammate Puwit Anupansuebsai (Nakhon Phanom, Thailand), 2&1, on Course No. 2 at Pinehurst Resort and Country Club.
With his victory, Oyo will square off against Parker Coody (Plano, Texas) on Thursday, starting at 9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT. Coody, a sophomore at the University of Texas, won handily in the round of 64 with a decisive 7&6 decision over Georgia Tech junior Noah Norton (Chico, Calif.) on the 7,334-yard course layout .
Should Oyo prevail over Coody, he will square off against either Spencer Ralston (Gainesville, Ga.), a senior at Georgia, or France's Julien Sale beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT.
In Wednesday's clash, Anupansuebsai was seemingly in control following a birdie on the par-4, 475-yard No. 11, which put him at 3-up for the match. However, after the two players made bogey at the par-4 12th, Oyo caught fire, winning five straight holes to escape with the victory. The Tokyo, Japan, native went ahead to stay with a birdie on the par-4, 527-yard No. 16 and then closed with a par-3 at the 180-yard No. 17.
On Tuesday, Oyo finished medal competition in a six-way tie for second place at 2-under-par 138, joining Auburn alumnus Jacob Solomon, LSU senior Philip Barbaree, Baylor senior Cooper Dossey, Florida incoming freshman Ricky Castillo and Tom Sloman of England. All six competitors fell one shot behind recent Stanford graduate Brandon Wu (-3).
After suffering four bogeys en route to an opening round 1-over 71 on Course No. 2 Monday, Oyo recorded just one blemish Tuesday on Course No. 4, draining four birdies, including back-to-back conversions on the par-4 16th and the par-5 17th, to highlight a card of 67. With his score, Oyo was one of only 11 golfers to finish medal play at or below par.
Anupansuebsai, meanwhile, advanced to match play after tying for 44th with a combined 4-over 144 on rounds of 70-74. The SDSU junior sank two birdies in each round; however, six bogeys in Tuesday's session prevented a higher seed.
The Aztecs' third U.S. Amateur qualifier, junior Zihao Jin (Beijing, China) also fired at second-round 74, but missed the cut for the top 64 after finishing with a collective 13-over 153.
The second medal round was completed early Wednesday morning with 27 players vying for three spots in a playoff after play was suspended Tuesday evening due to darkness. Earlier that afternoon, the round also experienced a weather delay due to passing thunderstorms.
Thursday's round of 32 matches will be streamed on USGA.org from 9-11 a.m. PT, while Fox Sports 1 will provide broadcast coverage of the round of 16 from 1-4 p.m. PT.