Wi, Berganio Fall by Wayside in Match Play

The good news for Charlie Wi of Thousand Oaks and David Berganio Jr. of Sylmar is that they did not get hit by the lightning that raked the Ohio Valley for two days amid the U.S. Amateur championship.

The bad news is that Wi and Berganio were still badly burned at the Muirfield Village Golf Club, being ousted from the prestigious event in Saturday’s third round of match play by a pair of red-hot opponents.

Wi, who won the California Amateur championship two years ago, failed in his bid to add the other 49 states to his collection. His victory in the 1990 state amateur was shocking, coming two weeks after he graduated from Westlake High. He showed glimpses of that unbeatable form in the first two rounds of match play at Muirfield, but down the stretch of his second match Friday the luster wore off. He was beaten by John Harris of Edina, Minn., 1-up, after building a 3-up lead through eight holes.

In defeat, Wi showed the graciousness that has become a trademark. He stayed near the green for several minutes, handing out golf balls to children and signing autographs. “I am kind of down right now,” he said. “I guess I just don’t show it.”

Wi, 20, who will begin his junior year at Nevada this week, earlier in the day had advanced to the round of 16, from a starting field of 312, by routing Art Diaz of Scottsdale, Ariz., 6 and 4.

Berganio, 23, who will begin his senior year at Arizona this week, also blitzed his second-round opponent in a morning match, ousting John Karcher of Darien, Conn., 5 and 3. But in the afternoon round he was beaten by George Zahringer of Greenwich, Conn., 4 and 2.

Berganio, the 1991 U.S. Public Links champion, had fought his way to the top level of amateur golf with explosive surges of brilliant golf, often breaking open close matches with stunning shots. But Saturday, it was Zahringer who turned in the spectacular.

Trailing by one hole on the par-four 13th, Berganio drilled his second shot to within five feet of the pin and seemed assured of evening the match. But Zahringer then snaked in a downhill 35-footer for a birdie and a rattled Berganio missed his five-foot putt, giving Zahringer the hole and a 2-up lead. “Every time I got some momentum going, he came up with a big shot,” Berganio said.