Ferreira and Ford advance to last 32

Adrian Ford and Derik Ferreira both advanced to the last 32 in the match play stages of the 113th Argentine Amateur Championship being played at Nordelta Golf Course outside Buenos Aires.

Enjoying the fine weather that prevailed yesterday, Derik Ferreira, 19 year old Gauteng North provincial player, won his match fairly comfortably against Nicolas Ciccola of Argentina, 5 and 4. Speaking after his round the No. 2 ranked player, according to the latest SAGA Player Rankings, Ferreira said he played well never letting his opponent get ahead.

Adrian Ford on the other hand, playing against Andrew McCabe of the US, had to play all 18 holes before he emerged as the winner, 1 up. “I played well, it was just that I missed a lot of putts,” explained the 21 year old Durbanville Golf Club member. He turned one up, lost the 12th hole, to go all square. He then won two holes in a row starting at hole 13 but lost the 17th and halved the final hole for victory.

The first round saw no surprises with all the top seeded players going through. British Amateur Champion, Reiner Saxton, of the Netherlands, was made to work by Ezequiel Young of Argentina. Saxton needed all 18 holes to win his match 1 up.

Ferreira has his work cut out for him in his second round match this morning. He takes on Jason Scrivener of Australia. Scrivener was a member of the Australian team that finished second in the International Team Competition, played during the Juan Carlos Tailhade Cup over the weekend.

Ford has a lesser known opponent in Argentinean Santiago Abreu, for his second round match.

This afternoon, the winners of the second round matches play in the third round.

The quarter and semi final are played tomorrow over 18 holes each. The final match, to determine the 113th Argentine Amateur Champion, will be played over 36 holes, on Sunday.