Australia’s Brett Coletta leads US Amateur qualifying

Former University of Colorado golfer David Oraee fired his second consecutive 3-under-par 67 Tuesday to move into second place, one shot off the lead, in U.S Amateur stroke-play qualifying at Olympia Fields, Ill.

Second round play was suspended due to darkness as the current cutline is projected to be three-over 143 for an opportunity to be in the 64-player field for the match play portion of the championship.

Rain delayed the start for 90 minutes and 54 players were still on the course when play was suspended at 7:13 p.m. After finishing in the middle of the afternoon on Tuesday, Garrick had to wait until Wednesday morning to see if he would make a playoff to get into the round of 64, which he did. That number will surely fluctuate on Wednesday morning.

Fellow Victorian Ryan Ruffels added a 72 to his opening 66 to sit T10 late in day two, while Queenslander Maverick Antcliff played a spectacular back nine to roar through the field. He got back to 3-over par with a birdie on No. 14, but finished bogey-bogey for his second-round 75 (+5).

“I feel it’s a pretty big accomplishment to make it to match play, especially since it’s my first (U.S. Amateur)”.

It put the cap on a strong summer for Barco, who placed 12th at the Pan Am Games in mid-July while his last competitive round at Purdue was a 6-under par 65 at the NCAA Lubbock Regional last May.

“At home, everyone says this is the tournament to get into”, he said. “This is the tournament to win”. So I’ve come here, and all the stands are up, all you guys out here, the TV cameras will be out tomorrow.

“I’m hitting my driver unbelievably”, admitted the 19-year-old. “So having that extra distance and hitting it straight, having those short irons in really helps. I thought I played really well and really solid”.