Tyler Strafaci and Charles Osborne advanced to the U.S. Amateur final Saturday in Bandon, Ore., earning spots next year in the Masters and the U.S. Open.
Strafaci, a rising Georgia Tech senior from Davie, Florida, beat Oklahoma State’s Aman Gupta 1-up after losing a four-hole lead on the back nine. Osborne, a rising SMU junior from Reno, Nevada, topped UNC-Charlotte’s Matthew Sharpstene 4 and 2.
The winner Sunday on the seaside course will get a spot in the 2021 British Open.
Strafaci is trying to become the second straight Georgia Tech player to win the Havemeyer Trophy, following Andy Ogletree. Strafaci's grandfather, Frank Strafaci, won the 1935 U.S. Amateur Public Links.
Starfaci won the par-18th when Gupta ran a bogey putt well past and conceded.
Strafaci raced to a 3-up lead, winning the par-4 first 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 par-4 10th with birdies to open the 4-up lead.
Gupta won the par-5 13th with his first birdie of the day, took the par-3 15th with a double bogey after Strafaci made a triple bogey, and cut the deficit to one with a birdie win on the par-4 16th. He pulled even with a par win on the par-4 17th after Strafaci drove into a pot bunker.
Gupta, from Concord, North Carolina, got into the field as an alternate last week when second-ranked No. 2 Ricky Castillo withdrew.
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