Woods, Oh, Harris Advance After First Matches in U.S. Amateur

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. —  Tiger Woods of Cypress and Ted Oh of Torrance were among 32 winners Wednesday in the first round of the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship at TPC of Sawgrass.

Also advancing was defending champion John Harris.

Woods, 18, closed out Vaughn Moise, a PGA Tour rules official from Kingwood, Tex., when Moise put his tee shot in the water on the famous island par-three 17th at the Stadium Course.

Oh, 17, chipped in for a birdie-three on 18 to tie his match with Alan Bratton of College Station, Tex., and then won with a par on the first extra hole in one of the eight first-round matches that went past 18 holes.

Harris, a 41-year-old insurance salesman from Edina, Minn., won three of the first four holes from Jason Smoak of Whitestone, S.C., and went on to a 7-and-6 victory. Harris was five under par when he closed out the match with a par on No. 12.

Rick Talt, 48, a mortgage broker from Laguna Beach, lost his first-round match, 5 and 4, to Tim Jackson of Germantown, Tenn. Talt had to survive a playoff Wednesday morning to advance to match play.