Kilkenny’s Mark Power kept hopes of back-to-back Irish champions alive when he battled his way into the quarter-finals in The 125th Amateur Championship and at Royal Birkdale. 

After eliminating Englishman Jack Dyer in the morning tie, Power set up an afternoon showdown with German Marc Hammer, who last week emerged victorious at the Starnberg Open on the Pro Golf Tour. 

Earlier in the day, Hammer ended the hopes of Brabazon Trophy champion David Ravetto, defeating the Frenchman 2&1. However, his winning ways were brought to a halt by Power who took control of the match early and was four up after five holes. 

Scoring

It was a hard-fought battle between Power and Hammer with the German mounting a comeback to be just one down after 15 holes thanks to some impressive golf which included birdies at the 6th, 7th, 14th and 15th. 

Power also produced a birdie on the 15th to halve the hole, another at the 16th saw him go two up with two holes to play. When the 17th hole was halved with pars, the Irishman sealed a 2&1 win. 

“I am delighted, I knew it would be a tough one going out against Marc, he obviously beat a good player in David Ravetto this morning so I knew I would be up against it,” said Wake Forest star Power

“I got off to such a nice start, I was four-up after five, I made a couple of birdies in tough conditions. He came back at me really hard over the back nine and I just made a good birdie on 16 to get back to two-up. 

“When you get to four up after five you start to relax a little bit but that is the one thing you can’t do in match play and when your opponent starts playing a bit better, it’s a strange position to be in. But I hung in out there, the wind was so tough, you have no choice but to play well or you will be in the hay. 

“I feel like I am easing into it now. I have won every game 2&1 but every game is different and I feel like I am ready for any challenge.”

With starts on The Open, the US Open and the Masters but for grabs, Power is not afraid to dream big.

“James Sugrue won it last year and I play a lot of golf with him,” said the youngster, whose father Eddie whose best performance in just two appearances in the Amateur was a run to the second round at Nairn in 1994.

“When you see him win it, you are kind of jealous when you see him get to play in The Open and The Masters coming up. So, to get myself into a position to have a chance at doing the same is massive. When you see some of the big names who have won The Amateur it really shows what is possible” 

Holywood’s Tom McKibbin lost 4&3 to Barclay Brown in the third round while Carton House’s Marc Boucher beat Matty Lamb 2&1 before going down by one hole to Denmark’s Hamish William Brown in the last 16.

Englishman Joe Harvey was the first to qualify for the quarter-finals having cruised through his match against countryman Islam Habebul winning 5&4. In his earlier tie, the 23-year-old eliminated another Englishman, Arron Edwards-Hill, 2&1.

The top-ranked player Benjamin Schmidt departed the competition this morning as he was defeated 4&3 by 22-year-old Barrow, who finished runner-up at the English Men’s Amateur Championship at the start of August. 

Barrow, who was in the Manchester United Academy as a teenager, set himself up an afternoon tee time with Loris Schuepbach of Switzerland and progressed to the quarter-finals after recording a 5&4 victory in the tie.  

“It feels good, I played very solid out there, it got very windy at the end and some of the holes were playing extremely long but it was good to get the win and under pressure,” said Barrow, who faces Power in Saturday’s quarter-finals. 

“I got off to a pretty solid start with a birdie at the second, I just tried to keep the pressure on and the foot on the pedal. I made another birdie at six and seven. I just tried to make as many pars as possible from there because it’s pretty brutal out there with the wind.

“I started playing golf when I was 14, football was really my thing but that didn’t really work out as I wanted it to, so golf took over. I was in the Manchester United academy until I was 16 and then I got released so focused on golf which has worked out pretty well so far.”

Victor H. Sidal Svendsen of Denmark, who earned his place in the last-16 after eliminating the Finnish Amateur Champion Ilari Saulo 5&3, had to twice battle back from being down in his afternoon match against England’s Callum Farr. However, the Dane took control of the match on the back nine winning 4&2. 

Also securing a place in the quarter-finals is fellow Dane Hamish William Brown who defeated Boucher in the only match to be decided on the 18th today in the afternoon ties.  

Five birdies from England’s Barclay Brown saw him make short work of his match against compatriot Joshua Bristow. He progresses to the quarter-finals following a 6&5 victory where he will be joined by a further two Englishmen Joe Long who recorded a 4&3 win over Olly Huggins and Jake Bolton who eliminated Frederik Kjettrup 3&2. 

The match play stage continues tomorrow with the quarter-finals underway at Royal Birkdale at 8.15am followed by the semi-finals at 1pm. The winner of Sunday’s 36-hole final will gain exemptions into The 149th Open at Royal St George’s next July and by tradition, an invitation to play in the Masters Tournament and an exemption to the US Open.