Rico Hoey US Public Links top qualifier

Rico Hoey and Jonathan delos Reyes, Filipino-Americans who helped the country snap a 17-year Putra Cup drought last year, easily made the match play stage of the 89th and last edition of  the US Amateur Public Links Championship in Newton, Kansas.

The 18-year-old Hoey fired a second round seven-under-par 64 at Sand Creek Station in Newton, Kansas, to tie for low medal honors with Americans Byron Meth, Doug Ghim and Zane Thomas at 134.

Delos Reyes, meanwhile, fired rounds of 71 and 74 to place 38th  in the 64-man group that advanced to the KO stages.

A third Filipino, Jobim Carlos of the University of San Francisco, returned two 75s and missed the cut by three shots.

Hoey and Delos Reyes were discoveries by former National Golf Association of the Philippines president Tommy Manotoc, who got them to play, along with Carlos and Rupert Zaragosa, for the PH team in the  Putra Cup last year and prevailed  by a record 22 shots.

Enjoying a golf scholarship with the University of Southern California, Hoey earned top-seeding and a clash with the lowliest qualifier on Thursday.

After firing an opening 65, Ghim, an Illinois native who signed up for Texas, bogeyed the 18th to miss the solo lead.

Thomas, after a birdie on the difficult 10th where he started his second round, had three bogeys in a five-hole stretch before making the turn only to go hot again with four birdies in his final 10 holes for a 68.

Michael Colgate and Garrett Rank, who had a share of the first round lead with Ghim, shot 75s and fell into a tie for 17th.