A CHAMPION TO BE CROWNED

California's Josh Anderson and Washington's Tyler Matthews are Saturday's 36-hole finalists in the 108th PNGA Men's Amateur at The Home Course. Here is how they match up:

JOSH ANDERSON
Hometown: Murrieta, Calif.
Age: 20.
College: Pepperdine.
World amateur ranking: 240th.
Seed in PNGA Amateur: No. 26.
Road to finals: Wins over No. 39 Cameron Peck (19 holes) in the first round; No. 58 Brian Barhanovich (4-and-3) in the second round; No. 10 James Sacheck (5-and-4) in the third round; No. 2 Chris Williams (2-and-1) in the quarterfinals; and No. 11 Darren Wallace (19 holes) in the semifinals.

TYLER MATTHEWS
Hometown: Redmond.
Age: 22.
College: Vanderbilt.
World amateur ranking: 912th.
Seed in PNGA Amateur: No. 1.
Road to finals: Wins over No. 64 Gregory Moss (5-and-4) in the first round; No. 32 Ian Dahl (19 holes) in the second round; No. 17 Patrick Bauer (2-and-1) in the third round; No. 8 Robbie Ziegler (2-up) in the quarterfinals; and No. 28 Zach MacDougall (3-and-2) in the semifinals.

Gone are the fresh legs of earlier in the week, the warm-greeting expressions of competitive golfing colleagues just starting up one of the best amateur tournaments on the West Coast.

Five grueling days into the 108th PNGA Men's Amateur at The Home Course in Dupont, two men remain standing – California's Josh Anderson and Tyler Matthews, of Redmond – for Saturday's 36-hole championship match.

Both won morning quarterfinal and afternoon semifinal matches Friday to advance to Saturday's showdown, scheduled for 7 a.m. off the first tee.

Matthews, the No. 1 seed and recent graduate of Vanderbilt, defeated Oregon's Robbie Ziegler (2-up) and Canadian Zach MacDougall (3-and-2) while Anderson, a sophomore-to-be at Pepperdine, stopped Idaho teenager Chris Williams (2-and-1) and Canadian Darren Wallace (19 holes).

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This week: Nationwide Tour's Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic, Thursday through Sunday, The Georgian Bay Club, Clarksburg, Ontario, Canada.

Second-round score: 2-under-par 70 at Raven Golf Club.

Position: Putnam (3-under 140) is tied for 51st, 10 strokes behind leader Roger Tambellini (130).

Recap: It looked like during most of Friday, the Tacoma golfer's late double bogey would send him home. But the cut-line moved late in the day to 140, securing his third consecutive made cut. He's missed just four of the 36 greens in regulation so far, which is tied for fourth in the field.

Tee time Saturday: TBD.