OAKMONT, Pa. -- Comeback Casey proved he can play with a lead, not just from behind. There was no letdown for David Oh, or for Lee Williams. Nick Flanagan showed adolescence and naivete can be assets even in a pressure cooker of a tournament unlike any he has ever seen.
On a day youth, freshness and skill separated themselves from experience and savvy at storied Oakmont Country Club, the U.S. Amateur became a kids' game again Friday after a surprising run by three veterans nicknamed the Geezers.
All four quarterfinal winners in the most difficult-to-win amateur are 22 or younger, including two teens, the 19-year-old Flanagan and 18-year-old Casey Wittenberg. Even in a tournament dominated in recent years by youth, this is an eclectic, unpredictable and unlikely bunch.
A remarkably inexperienced one, too. Only Oh, who extended his run of surprise victories by beating the favored Bill Haas 2 and 1, has played in the Amateur before, and this is only his second. Wittenberg, Williams and Flanagan are semifinalists in their U.S. Amateur debuts.
"I'm sure there probably is a favorite," Williams said. "I don't know who it is."
Wittenberg is the nation's top-ranked amateur even though he has yet to attend his first class at Oklahoma State. But even he said, "Match play is a dangerous game. Rankings don't mean much in match play. This isn't like tennis or some other sport where physically a No. 1 player is better than another."
Wittenberg, from Memphis, had the look of a No. 1 on Friday, never trailing in a 1 up victory over 50-year-old George Zahringer, a longtime contender more than twice his age.
It was a turnaround from Thursday, when Wittenberg rallied from 4 holes down in one match and three in another. His putter was the difference as he seized control of an all-square match by sinking a 45-footer for birdie on the par-3 No. 13. He also made a difficult 6-footer for a birdie on Oakmont's most difficult par-4, the 313-yard No. 17.
"To win the U.S. Amateur, you have to make clutch putts," he said. "You don't necessarily have to make tons, but you have to make the ones that are important."
Wittenberg will try to make more of them Saturday when he plays Williams, an Auburn junior from Alexander City, Ala., in the semifinals. Williams took out 35-year-old Pat Carter, winner of the last nine West Virginia amateurs, by 4 and 3 despite losing the first two holes.
Flanagan, who never stepped foot on an American course until earlier this summer, was a 1 up winner over another of the veterans, 44-year-old Jerry Courville of Milford, Conn.
Flanagan's advance is far beyond what the Australian could have imagined when he hit the U.S. amateur circuit two months ago. He didn't even start playing golf until watching Tiger Woods win the Masters in 1997; now, in two more days, he could join Woods as a U.S. Amateur champion.
"I got into it because of watching Tiger, like a lot of kids these days," Flanagan said.
Flanagan's biggest victory to date came in the Tasmanian Open. Now, he's having a devil of a time in a tournament whose importance he is having trouble explaining to his friends back home. There are no such things as national TV coverage, big galleries or media tents for amateur golf Down Under.
"The most people I've ever played in front of before was maybe 100 people," he said. "To play in front of thousands of people like were out there today, that's different. ... I want to get a videotape of this so my family can see it, because people don't realize how big this thing is."
Oh's steady advance may reflect his refusal to make this into too big a deal. He's doing it not just with hot iron play, but with a hot iron -- to relax himself, he irons his shirts before every match.
"I figured if you're not playing well, you might as well look good," said Oh, who is from Cerritos, Calif.
There aren't too many wrinkles in Oh's game right now. He followed up Thursday's second-round victory over Trip Kuehne, the pre-tournament favorite, by eliminating Haas, the son of PGA Tour pro Jay Haas and the owner of the most impressive resume among the eight quarterfinalists.
Now, the two most unlikely semifinalists, Oh and Flanagan, will play Saturday for a totally unanticipated trip to Sunday's 36-hole final.
"I'm not going to lie, I'm surprised," said Oh, an academic All-American at Southern Cal. "For me, for this to be happening right now, it's too great for words to describe."
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