Jordan Spieth, Kelly Kraft roll to quarterfinals at U.S. Amateur

Dallas' Jordan Spieth and Denton's Kelly Kraft continue their runs in the U.S. Amateur. 

Spieth, reigning U.S. Junior Amateur champion, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-and-5 victory over Ben Geyer of Arbuckle, Calif. on Friday morning. Kraft, a recent SMU grad, defeated Blake Biddle in 23 holes.

Spieth teed off  a 2 p.m. against England's Jack Senior, 2011 Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup member who defeated  John Hahn of Las Vegas. Kraft will tee off against Patrick Rodgers of Avon, Ind. at 2:55 p.m.

Jordan Russell of College Station defeated Bobby Leopold of Cranston, R.I.  And Fort Worth's John Peterson lost to Max Buckley of Rye, N.Y., in 20 holes. 

Spieth, who will begin freshman classes at the University of Texas next week,  took only 15 putts on the tricky greens at Erin Hills against Geyer, a St. Mary's College sophomore. 

“Early in the round I got a couple of really good breaks, and then he couldn’t get a putt to fall, and I really started making putts, which was good to see,” Spieth said. “That was really the difference. I got the putter working for me. I had been struggling with it.”

Despite his success in junior golf, Spieth missed the cut in three previous U.S. Amateur appearances. With three more wins, he would would become the first player to claim the U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Amateur in the same year. 

Live Scoring: http://www.usga.org/ChampEventSite.aspx?id=17179869326

Results
Friday’s third round matches
At Erin Hills (7,760 yards, par-72)
  Upper Bracket
Jordan Russell, College Station, Texas (140) d. Bobby Leopold, Cranston, R.I. (142), 19 holes
Peter Uihlein, Orlando, Fla. (137) d. Scott Langley, St. Louis, Mo. (137), 2 and 1
Max Buckley, Rye, N.Y. (141) d. John Peterson, Fort Worth, Texas (139), 19 holes
Patrick Cantlay, Los Alamitos, Calif. (140) d. Tom Lewis, England (139), 3 and 1

Lower Bracket
Blake Biddle, St. Charles, Ill. (134) v. Kelly Kraft, Denton, Texas (141)
Patrick Rodgers, Avon, Ind. (136) d. Sunil Jung, Korea (137), 4 and 3
Jack Senior, England (140) d. John Hahn, Las Vegas, Nev. (139), 3 and 2
Jordan Spieth, Dallas, Texas (137) d. Ben Geyer, Arbuckle, Calif. (135), 7 and 5