Wake Forest’s Top Player Advances to Final, Will Play Former Pro for U.S. Amateur Title

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. —  Chris Kite, the No. 1 player on the Wake Forest golf team, advanced to the final of the 1986 U.S. Amateur Championship Saturday by beating the No. 1 player on the Louisiana State team.

But in today’s 36-hole final at Shoal Creek, Kite must play LSU’s coach, Stewart Alexander.

Kite defeated 17-year-old Brian Montgomery of Bristow, Okla., in the semifinals, 3 and 1. He made it through the Saturday morning quarterfinals with a 2-and-1 victory over Chris Gustin of Birmingham.

Alexander, 33, reinstated as an amateur a month ago, defeated veteran Bob Lewis Jr., in the semifinals, 6 and 4.

Alexander, who beat Todd Hamilton of Oquawka, Okla., 2 and 1, in the quarterfinals, explained his professional career by saying, “The best finish I ever had was two strokes behind Jack Nicklaus in the Doral Open. Unfortunately, both of us missed the cut.”