Aug. 18, 2004
ATLANTA – Nicholas Thompson took a three-hole lead in the first seven holes and then held on to defeat Roberto Castro, 2 and 1, Wednesday in a match between Georgia Tech teammates in the first round of the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship.
The championship is being played at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. Second and third-round matches are scheduled for Thursday, quarterfinals Friday and semifinals Saturday. The 36-hole championship match will be played Sunday. Television coverage all four days is on ESPN2.
Thompson, a senior from Coral Springs, Fla., played an even par front nine and took advantage of bogeys by Castro on both par three holes and the par-4 fourth to go 3-up at the turn. Castro, a sophomore from Alpharetta, Ga., reduced Thompson’s lead to one hole with two to play when the senior bogeyed the 14th and 15th hole.
But Thompson carded the second birdie of his round on the par-4 16th hole to restore a two-hole lead, then both players parred to 17th to clinch the match for the Tech senior.
Thompson, a third-team All-American last spring and the nation’s 14th-ranked amateur, advances to Thursday’s second round against the winner of a first-round match between Bronson La’Cassie of Australia and Buck Williams of the United States. That match will tee off at 8:10 a.m., and the winner advances to play a third-round match at 1:35 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
