After beating the champion of France and Britain at last week’s U.S. Amateur Championship, Joseph Bramlett met his match in an All-American from Georgia.
Bramlett, a 2006 graduate of St. Francis High, bowed out in the second round of match play, falling 3 and 2 to Robert Castro Thursday at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.
I played well for most of the round,” said Bramlett, whose round was delayed more than four hours by a lightning storm. “I was two down after he birdied 14, but he didn’t make any mistakes the rest of the way and I couldn’t catch up.”
Bramlett came away impressed by the more experienced Castro, an All-American from Georgia Tech who had played in the U.S. Amateur before.
“He was really solid,” the 18-year-old from Saratoga said.
Bramlett said his chipping and putting helped keep him close, and the score was 1 up after eight holes. Castro took the lead with a birdie on nine and also had birdies on 11 and 14 to stay in control. Bramlett, meanwhile, was undone by a double-bogey on 13.
Bramlett opened match play with a 2 and 1 victory over Julien Guerrier, the amateur champion of Britain and his native France.
Bramlett said he was helped by a good start, highlighted by a birdie on five that put him four up.
“It was back and forth after that,” said Bramlett, headed to Stanford University on a golf scholarship. “On the back nine he was solid, but I didn’t make any mistakes and he ran out of holes.”
Bramlett’s best swing of the day came on the 10th, where his shot from 150 yards out landed 5 feet from the hole and led to a birdie.
“That was a big one for me,” he said. “I kept my big lead and kept the momentum on my side.”
Bramlett hopes for a similar effort this week at the First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. The event – running Friday through Sunday – teams a junior player with a Champions Tour player and two amateurs. The field includes senior pros such as Lee Trevino, Curtis Strange, Tom Kite and Fuzzy Zoeller.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Bramlett said. “I can learn a lot from the senior pro players.”
Ichikawa also in First Tee
The Los Altos resident is one of 78 juniors from around the country to be awarded a spot. He qualified by winning the Northern California Golf Association Junior Championship Aug. 9 at Lake Merced Golf Course.
The First Tee Open is scheduled to be televised on the Golf Channel and NBC.
