Aug. 25, 2006

Mizzou senior John Kelly won two matches on Friday in the U.S. Amateur Championship to become the first Tiger golfer to advance to the semifinal round. Kelly defeated Jon McLean (2&1) before taking down two-time USA Walker Cup player Trip Kuehne (3&2) on Friday.

Kelly, one of four golfers left in the tournament that began with over 7,000 entries, will face Ryan Yip on Saturday for a chance to advance to the championship match.

In the win over McLean, Kelly was down two after 11 holes, but won the next four holes on the way to the 2&1 win. Against Kuehne, Kelly won the first hole of the match and never relinquished the lead.

Saturday's semifinals match will start at 9 a.m. at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn. and will be shown tape delayed on NBC at 3 p.m. The championship match is 36-holes on Sunday.

A field of 312 out of 7,182 entries advanced to the U.S. Amateur Championship this week. Kelly finished 25th after two rounds of stroke play to advance to the 64-player field for the match play portion of the tournament.

The senior from St. Louis qualified for the U.S. Amateur by carding a two-round total of 141 at Sunnyside Country Club in Waterloo, Iowa.

The U.S. Amateur champion receives an exemption into the 2007 U.S. Open and British Open and a probable invitation to play in the 2007