Aug. 25, 2005
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech graduate Nicholas Thompson was eliminated from the U.S. Amataur Golf Championship Thursday, falling 1-up in his second-round match to Davie Van der Walt of South Africa at the Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.
Thompson, from Coral Springs, Fla., bogeyed the 430-yard, par-4 16th hole to give Van der Walt a 1-up lead. Both players parred the par-3 17th and bogeyed the par-4 18th. Thompson drew first blood with a birdie at No. 2, a par 5 hole which at 556 yards is the longest on the course, but gave the lead back on the par-3 third with a bogey.
Van der Walt bogeyed the par-4 eighth to give Thompson the lead back, but drew back to all square with a birdie at the ninth and took a 1-up lead at the 10th when Thompson bogeyed. Thompson evened the match again when Van der Walt made bogey at 13, and the match remained even until Thompson’s bogey at 16.
Thompson had reached the second round by defeating Dustin Pimm of Sandy, Utah, 4 and 3, on Wednesday.
