Cole Hammer is two wins from bringing a nice piece of hardware to his first college dorm room.
The 18-year-old Houston native, who will enroll at Texas later this month, reached the semifinals of the Western Amateur at Sunset Ridge in Northfield with a pair of tight match-play victories Friday.
Hammer — who shot a course-record 61 on Thursday en route to earning co-medalist honors in stroke play — defeated Georgia junior Spencer Ralston 1 up in a back-and-forth quarterfinal, finally taking the lead for good with a birdie on the par-5 16th. He got past Alabama sophomore Davis Shore in the round of 16 with a birdie on the 20th hole.
Ralston ended the run of Highwood’s Patrick Flavin with a 3-and-2 victory in the round of 16.
Hammer will face Stanford senior Brandon Wu in Saturday morning’s semifinals, with Georgia Tech junior Tyler Strafaci taking on Alabama senior Davis Riley in the other semi. The final is Saturday afternoon.
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