Berganio Lights Up Match Play : Golf: Sylmar 23-year-old defeats Alan Bratton, 4 and 2, to advance to second round of U.S. Amateur championship. Wi takes 7-up lead after nine holes before rain halts action.

David Berganio Jr. has been known to bring a little thunder and lightning to a golf course. His occasional displays of emotion have become a trademark.

But Thursday, in the opening round of match play in the U.S. Amateur championship, he needed only to bring his golf clubs.

Mother Nature brought the thunder and lightning.

Playing just before the Muirfield Village Golf Club course was raked by a storm, Berganio, of Sylmar, defeated Alan Bratton of College Station, Tex., 4 and 2.

The match was one of only 10 completed when play was suspended at 2:47 p.m. CDT and officially halted for the day shortly after 5.

Among those who were unable to finish their matches was Charlie Wi of Thousand Oaks, but the completion of his match today will be merely a formality.

Wi, 20, a junior at Nevada who won the 1990 California Amateur championship just two weeks after graduating from Westlake High, blitzed Michael Kelley of nearby Columbus with a torrid display of golf, taking a whopping 7-up lead through nine holes.

The winner of that match will play later today in the second round.

Berganio, 23, a senior at Arizona and the 1991 U.S. Public Links champion, is a veteran of match play.

He used that experience to put away Bratton, a second-team All-American last year at Oklahoma State.

“I knew I had to play well,” Berganio said, “and I knew, especially with this course, that you can’t play the man. You have to play the course.

“I watched maybe 10 of his shots the whole match.”

Berganio, a third-team All-American at Arizona last year, used consistent play to wear down Bratton.

On the front nine he had two birdies and seven pars.

Bratton bogeyed No. 4 and Berganio birdied No. 5 to go 2-up and he never relinquished the lead.

“I think I put the pressure on him early and kept control of the match,” Berganio said.

That control came with a little luck. On the ninth hole, a 404-yard par four, Berganio hit a one-iron off the tee and pulled the ball left. It struck a tree but caromed back onto the fairway.

He then drilled a four-iron to within 15 feet of the cup and made the birdie putt.

The only bogey for Berganio came on No. 14, but he still won the hole when Bratton carded a double.

Bratton bogeyed the 15th and 16th holes and Berganio birdied the par-three 16th to bring the match to an end.

“Bratton was probably the toughest player I ever faced in match play,” Berganio said. “But I hit the ball really well and played well.”

Berganio will face John Karcher of Darien, Conn., in today’s second round.

Karcher beat Danny Green of Jackson, Tenn., 4 and 3.

Berganio said he doesn’t know anything about Karcher and that’s just the way he likes it.

“I’ve never heard of the guy,” he said. “I’m not really worried.”