GOLF / U.S. AMATEUR : Duval, Woods Advance, but Voges Falters

David Duval took medalist honors and two Southern California golfers found themselves going in opposite directions on the last day of qualifying for the 92nd U.S. Amateur Championship.

Duval shot a five-under-par 67 for a 36-hole total of eight-under 136 Wednesday to beat Kelly Mitchum by two shots on the last day of qualifying for the match-play portion of the tournament.

Tiger Woods of Cypress, the youngest player in the field at 16, shot a six-under 66 at The Country Club at Muirfield Village--the lowest score of the day at that course--to pull to 144 and make the cut by four shots.

Defending champion Mitch Voges of Simi Valley shot an 89 for a 162 total to miss the cut.

Duval, a Georgia Tech senior from Ponte Vedra, Fla., will lead off match play at Muirfield Village Golf Club, with a field of 64 remaining from a starting grid of 312. He said he looks forward to it after two rounds of medal play.

“In match play you don’t have to worry about anything else going on around you on the course; you’re just playing that person,” he said.

Duval’s No. 1 status doesn’t mean much more than a preferred tee time against an opponent that barely made the field. He realizes a lot of work lies ahead.

“You’ve got to work hard and be lucky,” he said. “It’s who’s playing well and who keeps a good attitude through all of the things that are going to happen on the course.”

Duval, a three-time first-team All-American in college, made a run at winning the PGA Tour’s Atlanta Bell South Classic in May. But he said a U.S. Amateur championship has always been in the back of his mind.

“I think everybody thinks about it. It’s the pinnacle of amateur golf,” he said. “It’s a major championship, basically.”

Two-time Amateur champion Jay Sigel of Berwyn, Pa., made the match-play field for the 20th year in a row. Sigel, the last back-to-back winner in 1982-83, followed a 69 with a 71 for a four-under 140 total.