U.S. AMATEUR GOLF Holmes leads 66 golfers into match play competition

Oakmont Country Club took its toll on several of the top amateur players.
OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) -- Henry Liaw and Dustin Bray made it to the round of eight in last year's U.S. Amateur. They didn't make it to Wednesday this time.
Matt Hendrix and Chris Nallen have enjoyed such outstanding summers they were among the first eight U.S. amateurs picked for the Walker Cup matches Sept. 6-7 in England.
They weren't good enough on some of golf's most storied greens -- and, certainly, some of its scariest -- at Oakmont Country Club to reach the top 64 in amateur golf's national championship.
Most of the familiar names on the amateur circuit made it through two days of qualifying to advance to match play, the head-to-head format that has produced winners such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
Course playing tough
But Oakmont, which has unraveled far more careers over the years than it has turned out champions, can be one of the most unforgiving of courses.
Just ask Liaw and Bray, Hendrix and Nallen.
"Here, you want to play it safe and not do anything stupid," University of Kentucky golfer John Holmes said.
Holmes didn't always play it safe, but he didn't do anything stupid, either, shooting a two-day total of 2-under 138 at Oakmont and the Pittsburgh Field Club to lead the 64 qualifiers into Wednesday's play.
Actually, 66 golfers made the 36-hole cut of 7-over 147; 14 players tied for the final 12 spots and will play off to eliminate two before the opening match.
Holmes shot an even-par 70 Monday at Oakmont, which is hosting its 14th championship event but its first U.S. Amateur since 1969. That meant he could play it relatively safe at the much shorter and less punishing Field Club, where he shot a 2-under 68 Tuesday.
"I could go out there knowing I didn't have to shoot a 66 or 67," he said.
Casey Wittenberg did. After his 8-over 78 Monday at Oakmont put the nation's top-ranked amateur in danger of missing the cut, he shot himself back into the field with a 3-under 67 Tuesday at the Field Club. He was among seven at 5-over 145.
Kuehne ties for second
Trip Kuehne, the Dallas investment broker who was the 1994 runner-up to Woods, and Billy Hurley of Leesburg, Va., tied for second among the qualifiers at 1-under 139.
Billy Haas (74-69-143), who lost 1 up in last year's semifinals to eventual champion Ricky Barnes, moved on, as did fellow Walker Cup team members Brock Mackenzie, Ryan Moore, Adam Rubinson, Kuehne and Wittenberg. Barnes recently turned pro and thus is not eligible to defend.
At 31, Kuehne is almost a senior citizen compared to the college and high school golfers who chase most of amateur golf's major titles. Of the eight U.S. Walker Cup members chosen to date, every one is at least eight years younger than he is.
For now, though, it's the kids who are chasing Kuehne, not the other way around.
"There's no doubt about it, the one more thing for me to win is a USGA championship -- then, it's a great career," Kuehne said Tuesday. "Until I do that, I can't be satisfied. The younger guys out here are getting better and better."
A decade ago, he was one of those confident, can't-beat-me kids. At age 22, he was 6 up over Woods through 13 holes of their 36-hole final at Sawgrass, only to lose 2 up.
If he had won, he would have turned pro. Once he didn't, he became his generation's version of Jay Sigel, the 1982 and 1983 U.S. Amateur champion who didn't become a pro until joining the Senior Tour at age 50. Namely, a golfer whose other life pursuits -- work and family -- became more important than pro golf.