Jordan Spieth said he's been waiting all week to put everything together. It might be happening in the semifinals against Adam Ball. Spieth has made five consecutive birdies to go from 1 down to 3 up after six holes. He also just won the seventh with a par to go 4 up.
"My putter is inconsistent right now and my irons are just not going where I want them to go," said Spieth after eliminating Andrew Whalen of Ephrata, Wash., 2 and 1, in the quarterfinals on Friday morning. "But I’m still managing to get by. But I’m not going to be able to do this the rest of the way. I’m going to have to find a way to get the ball in the hole in a little fewer strokes than I did."
Spieth, who is looking to join Tiger Woods as the only multiple winners of the Junior Amateur, said he knows his semifinal opponent quite well and knows it will be a challenge. He also is starting to see his chances to make history.
"I felt a lot of pressure out there, especially near the end," said Spieth. "Somehow I’m just willing it in right now. I’m just squeaking by."
In the second semifinal, Chelso Barrett owns a 1-up lead on Nicolas Echavarria of Colombia. Both just two-putted the par-3 fifth hole to halve the hole.
Echavarria won the first hole with a birdie, but made a mess of the short par-4 second and the match returned to all square. Barrett then won the third hole with a par to grab the 1-up lead. They halved the par-4 fourth hole with birdie-3s. -- David Shefter