Wittenberg regains sense of directions, reaches finals

Casey Wittenberg and Lee Williams crossed the bridge over the Pennsylvania Turnpike, made a sharp right to the ninth tee, then each went left into the hairy rough on the uphill par 5.

Even though it looked like Wittenberg had lost his sense of direction for a moment during the U.S. Amateur semifinals Saturday, the Memphis, Tenn., native showed he still knew his way around Oakmont Country Club.

After missing a three-foot putt on No. 8 that would have given him a 2-up advantage, Wittenberg took a drop on nine and salvaged a par to win the hole, then won 10, 11 and 13 on the way to a 5 and 4 victory. The three-hole stretch (9, 10, 11) went a long way in earning Wittenberg a berth into today's 36-hole championship match against Nick Flanagan of Australia.

Wittenberg was disappointed in the putt that would have won the par-3 8th, but he was pleased he was able to bounce back in a match he never trailed.

"(The short putt on 8) was extremely frustrating from my viewpoint," Wittenberg said. "Eight is really the only poor mental hole I played. Lee made a bogey and I had a two-and-a-half footer, and I went brain dead and missed it. So, I ended up halving the hole with a four.

"We knew what the read was, there was no excuse to miss it. But I was fortunate enough to be able to recover and kind of get back on a roll."

Both players took a drop at No. 9 after drawing unplayable lies in a ditch up the left side of the hole. Williams dropped and hit a fairway wood into the front right bunker, and made bogey.

Wittenberg dropped and hit a 2-iron, which clipped a branch of a low-hanging tree, but carried to the front-left of the green. Wittenberg's par putt sparked his rally that seemed to overwhelm Williams.

Williams struggled off the tee most of the day, missing 8 of 14 fairways.

"I played with Casey before and I play in a lot of the same tournaments that he plays in," he said. "I knew anybody I played, especially with the draws I was getting, that I was going to have to play good."

Williams, of Alexander City, Ala., didn't think No. 9 played as big a role as Wittenberg did.

"I still felt comfortable, even though I was down two going to the back nine," he said. "If I would have been four down going to the back nine, I still wouldn't have felt comfortable, but I would have thought I still had a chance because I like the back nine better."

"I think No. 9 was a big boost," said Jimmy Wittenberg, Casey's father and caddy. "We recovered after getting into trouble. Then, we won 10, and 11 was huge."

On 10, a 463-yard par-4, Wittenberg split the fairway with his 3-wood, then knocked a pitching wedge to about 20 feet. He made par, while Williams hacked out of the left rough and made bogey.

Up three, Wittenberg added an exclamation point to his day when he drained a 30-foot birdie putt at No. 11 (382 yards, par 4). He kicked up his leg and pumped his fist with a 4-up lead.

"It just kind of snowballed," Jimmy Wittenberg said. "It is so hard to make birdies on this golf course."

At that point, the yip on No. 9 was all but forgotten.

"You can't let that weigh on your mind and it was still on my mind when I hit my tee ball on No. 9," Casey Wittenberg said. "You see what the consequences are for doing that (worrying)."

Wittenberg won the match with another par on 14 (360 yards, par 4).