Teammates Become Foes At U.S. Am Kribel Swats Bugg, Takes On Fellow Walker Player Elder

Stanford star Joel Kribel routed Jason Bugg 6 and 5 on Friday in the 97th U.S. Amateur Championship to advance to a semi-final match with Walker Cup teammate Brad Elder.

Elder, a Texas player, who finished second in the NCAA Championships, beat Michael Boyd of Tulsa, Okla., 3 and 1. In the other semifinal, Walker Cup player Randy Leen of Indiana will face Georgia Tech’s Matt Kuchar.

Kribel, of Pleasanton, Calif., was never challenged by Bugg, a former Rend Lake College player from Henderson, Ky., en route to his second straight semifinal appearance. He lost to then-teammate Tiger Woods last year.

“I could tell he was getting frustrated,” Kribel said. “I know he didn’t play as well as he was capable of or as well as he’d have liked.” Elder and Kribel played together in the foursomes in the United States’ Walker Cup victory victory over Britain and Ireland.

“It’s going to be hard,” said Elder, of Overland Park, Kan. “We were teammates, and now we’ve got to put that aside and play our own games.”

Leen, the Big Ten player of the year the last two seasons, beat Ryuji Imada of Tampa, Fla., 5 and 3, while Kuchar defeated Robert Gerwin of Cincinnati 3 and 2.

Along with a berth in Sunday’s 36-hole final, the semifinal winners will receive invitations to the 1998 Masters and U.S. Open.