LYTHAM ST ANNES, ENGLAND -- San Diego State men's golfer Youssef Guezzale (San Diego/La Jolla HS) advanced to match play at The 127th Amateur Championship at historic Royal Lytham & St Annes Club.
Guezzale finished the two-round qualifying stroke play at 1-under-par, which was tied for 27th out of 268 entrants. The top 64 and ties (79 total) qualified for match play. Guezzale opened with a 1-over 73 on the par-72, St Annes Old Links on Monday before carding a 2-under 68 on the par-70, Royal Lytham & St. Annes on Tuesday.
One of four Americans to advance to match play, Guezzale will face Ireland's Caolan Rafferty at 10:50 a.m. BST (2:50 a.m. PDT) Wednesday in the round of 64. The third (round of 32) and fourth (round of 16) match play rounds will take place on Thursday followed by the quarterfinals and semifinals on Friday. The Amateur Final is set for a 36-hole duel on Saturday.
The Amateur Championship is one of the biggest and most prestigious amateur championships in the world with the first Amateur being held at Hoylake in 1885. Past winners include Bobby Jones, Sergio Garcia and José María Olazábal. The winner secures exemptions into The Open and the U.S. Open, and by tradition, an invitation to play in the Masters Tournament.
Guezzale ranked third at San Diego State last season with a 72.61 scoring average, playing in 12 tournaments with 11 appearances in the starting five. Guezzale, who is coming back for another season with the Aztecs in 2022-23, led SDSU in rounds in the 60s (10) and rounds below par (14), highlighted by a third-place finish at the Mountain West Championship.