BANDON, Oregon – Tyler Strafaci and Charles Osborne progressed to the US Amateur Final on Saturday at Bandon Dunes to earn spots next year at the Masters and US Open.
Strafaci, the rising senior of Georgia Tech from Davie, Florida, beat Oklahoma State’s Aman Gupta 1 after losing a four-hole lead over the back nine. Osborne, the young up and coming SMU from Reno, Nevada, overtook UNC-Charlotte’s Matthew Sharpstene 4 and 2.
The winner of Sunday’s seaside course will get a seat at The Open in 2021.
Strafaci is looking to become the second consecutive Georgia Tech player to win the Havemeyer Trophy, after Andy Ogletree. Strafaci’s grandfather, Frank Strafaci, won the 1935 US Amateur Public Links.
Strafaci won the par-5 18th when Gupta bogey putted well over and conceded.
Strafaci ran in 3rd place, winning first the par-4 with a par, the par-4 fourth with a birdie and the par-4 fifth with a par. Gupta won the par-4 eighth with a par, and Strafaci took the par-5 ninth and the par-4 10th with birdies to open the 4-up.
Gupta won the par-5 13th with his first birdie of the day, took the par-3 15th with a double bugbear after Strafaci struck a triple bugbear and reduced the deficit to one with a birdie win over the par -4 16 °. He also shot with an even win on par-4 17th after Strafaci ended up in a bunker.
Gupta, from Concord, North Carolina, came on as a substitute last week when runner-up Ricky Castillo retired.
Osborne and Sharpstene started slowly with three consecutive holes won with pars, with Osborne taking fifth, and Sharpstene par-3 sixth and par-4 seventh for a 1-up lead. Osborne took numbers 8 and 9 with birdies and opened a 2-up with a par-4 11th win.
Sharpstene, who recently moved from West Virginia to Charlotte, won the 12th par 3 with a birdie. Osborne took par-5 13th and par-4 14th with birdies and ended the match with a par-4 win 16th.
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