Riley, Zalatoris reach US Junior final

THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) — Davis Riley outlasted Sam Horsfield on the 21st hole Friday in the U.S. Junior Amateur to set up an all-American final against William Zalatoris.

Riley, the 17-year-old from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, who lost in the final last year, rallied to square the match and finished off the 17-year-old Englishman with a par on the third extra hole.

“Tomorrow, I just need to play consistent, keep the ball in front of me, and make a lot of birdies,” Riley said. “It’s going to be a tough match, because anybody who gets this far is playing well. But you just have to go out there and try to get the win.”

The 17-year-old Zalatoris, from Plano, beat Australia’s Curtis Luck 1 up to reach the 36-hole final.

“It was a fun day today,” Zalatoris said. “This is what you live for, being under the gauntlet.”

Riley had birdie wins on the par-5 13th and par-4 16th to pull even with Horsfield in sweltering conditions on the Nicklaus course at The Club at Carlton Woods. They halved 17 and 18 with bogeys, with Riley missing a 3-footer on 18, then split the 19th with pars and halved the 20th with bogeys.

“I just told myself, ‘There’s nothing I can do about that putt now, so I might as well just shake it off and go to the next hole,” said Riley, who also missed a 4-footer on the 20th.

Last year, Riley lost 3 and 2 to Scottie Scheffler at Martis Camp in Truckee, California.

Zalatoris, making his record-tying fifth appearance in the event, won with a birdie on the par-5 18th after Luck won Nos. 14-16 to square the match.

“Even when he won three in a row, 14-16, and then his putt (from the fringe) should have gone in on 17 when it hit the flagstick, I just stayed patient and I knew exactly what I needed to do,” Zalatoris said. “Like I’ve said all week, my ball-striking has held up as well as it has all year.”

In the morning quarterfinals, Riley beat China’s Andy Zhang 2 up, and Zalatoris topped Zimbabwe’s Sean Crocker 3 and 2.

Riley and Zalatoris earned spots in the U.S. Amateur next month at Atlanta Athletic Club.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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