MSU's James Piot survives rollercoaster day, advances to U.S. Amateur semifinal

For the second time in as many weeks, a Michigan State golfer is on the brink of playing for a U.S. Amateur championship.

James Piot, a Canton native and Detroit Catholic Central alum, survived a long day at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania on Friday, winning two matches to advance to Saturday's semifinals. The 36-hole final is scheduled for Sunday.

Piot beat Matt Sharpstene, a Charlotte golfer and a 2020 semifinalist, in a rollercoaster quarterfinal match Friday afternoon, 3 and 1. Thirteen of the 17 holes were won, with Piot catching fire on the back nine.

"The kid's nails, that's all there is to it," said Michigan State head coach Casey Lubahn, who was on site and watching. "He's just really good at golf."

Piot, with assistant coach Dan Ellis on the bag, was 2 down early in the match, before turning the tables — starting with a clutch 12-foot birdie putt at No. 5 that he needed to avoid going three holes down.

Piot took a two-hole lead of his own by winning four holes in a five-hole stretch from Nos. 6 to 10, starting with a birdie at the 194-yard par-3 sixth.

Sharpstene made a late charge of his own, winning Nos. 11 and 13 to pull even — sandwiched around a 15-minute stoppage on the 12th tee, when Sharpstene was suffering from heat exhaustion.

The match tied, Sharpstene then hit his approach stiff at the short par-4 14th hole, and Piot made a 30-foot curling putt for birdie of his own for a pivotal halve to keep the match square. Piot won Nos. 15 and 16, the latter when Sharpstene carded a double-bogey 5 at the 231-yard par-3 16th.

Piot, a senior, closed it out with a birdie at the short par-4 17th, winning three straight holes to end the match.

"Pretty cool," Lubahn said.

Earlier Friday, Piot, 22, beat UC-Davis' Thomas Hutchison, 4 and 3. They had to play two rounds of match play Friday, because rain earlier in the week pushed the schedule back.

Piot will play North Florida's Nick Gabrelcik in Saturday's 2:20 p.m. semifinal, broadcast on Golf Channel starting at 3 p.m. and NBC at 4 p.m. It's been quite the trek through match play for Piot, who was well outside the match-play cut line of the top 64 after opening with a 74 at Oakmont. He rebounded with a 67 at Longue Vue Club to make the bracket.

Piot was runner-up to the medalist in 2020, his first U.S. Amateur, before falling in his second match. 

It already had been a magical year for Piot, a three-time winner in 2021 — including the Golf Association of Michigan Championship, the Michigan Medal Play at Detroit Golf Club and a college tournament at Indiana. Piot also played in the NCAA Championships in the spring.

His run this week comes after Michigan State's Valentina Rossi, a rising sophomore from Argentina, made the semifinals at last week's U.S. Women's Amateur at Westchester in upstate New York.

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tpaul@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tonypaul1984