And then there was one.
Travis Smyth will carry the flag as the lone Australian through to the quarter-finals of the US Amateur Championship in Los Angeles.
The New South Welshman made a stunning birdie up the 17th hole at famous Riviera Country Club to close out his round-of-16 clash with the talented Will Zalatoris, 2&1.
Smyth will next face another American, Doc Redman, with a berth in the semi-finals on the line tomorrow.
The Shellharbour ace was left as the last Aussie when Mark Lawrence Jnr edged Queenslander Shae Wools-Cobb by the same score with a par on the 17th minutes beforehand.
Earlier, the Hunter Valley’s Dylan Perry bowed out in a tense round of 32 match with another American, Collin Morikawa, whose par on the final hole was enough for a 1-up victory.
Smyth, 22, runner-up at the 2016 Australian Amateur, was seemingly in control of his match when he raced to a 4-up lead through eight holes and returned to that buffer when he birdied the 10th hole. Zalatoris, who has already played events on the US PGA Tour, kept at it, though, and found himself within one hole of Smyth through 14 holes. But Smyth would not be headed.
Pars on the 15th and 16th for the manbun-resplendent right-hander took him to the 17th still 1-up, but he soon found himself in a left fairway bunker, 50 metres short of the par-five green in two. Unfazed, he hit a spectacular blast that spun to about two metres past the pin and then duly rolled in the birdie putt to sink Zalatoris.
Smyth, who has enjoyed a consistent northern summer in the United States and Britain without savouring victory, has watched his world amateur ranking rise to No.29. Redman comes into this week ranked No.70.
