8/6-Barlow reaches Sweet 16 at Western Amateur

Lake Forest, Ill. - The 107th Western Amateur began with 155 players. The field is now down to 16 and Illinois senior Zach Barlow is among those who made the cut. Barlow finished four rounds of stroke play in a three-way tie for ninth at -1 after posting third and fourth round scores of 68 and 76, respectively, Thursday on the 7,216-yard par 71 Conway Farms Course. "My goal was to keep making cut after cut and make the match play round where anything can happen," Barlow said. Barlow was the third-round leader at -6 after posting a round of four birdies compared to just one bogey in his morning round. The Percy, Ill., native completed the front nine of round four at one over par, but posted four bogeys on the back nine. "I hit my irons well all day," Barlow said. "The difference was I put the ball on the right side of the green in the morning and was able to stick some putts. The greens registered 12.5 on the stint meter, so those five or six footers for par coming back were a little dicey." The match play round of 16 is slated for Friday morning with the quarterfinals in the afternoon. Semifinal and final matches will be Saturday at the Lake Forest (Ill.) course. Barlow meets Andrew Yun of Stanford in the round of 16. Illinois had four players make the Thursday cut of 44 in the tournament, but Scott Langley, Mason Jacobs and Luke Guthrie didnt reach the match play rounds after tough days. "It was nice to have those guys around," Barlow said. "Im excited already to get back to school. The key to this years team much like last year is that anyone can step up and lead at any given tournament."