Golf USA employee and LHS graduate Spencer Wilson demonstrates a swing analyzer. Wilson won his match Thursday in the Kansas Amateur at Topeka Country Club and advanced to the final 32.

By the time Spencer Wilson arrived at Golf USA for work at 2 p.m. Thursday, he already had done his best work of the day.

Wilson, 23 and a graduate of Lawrence High, won his match Thursday in the Kansas Amateur at Topeka Country Club. Wilson defeated Kirk Holmberg of Hutchinson, 1 up, to advance to this morning’s second-round match at 7:39 against Jon Troutman of Spring Hill. If he wins that, he will advance to the Sweet 16 and plays another match later in the day.

Wilson and 63 other golfers qualified for match play with their scores on two days of stroke play. Wilson shot a 75-72 to survive the cut in a tournament that had an original field of 300 golfers. Wilson was seeded 49th, Holmberg 16th.

This is Wilson’s fourth Kansas Amateur. He did not qualify for match play the first three tries.

Most players who advance as far as the final 32 have at least some college golf experience. Not Wilson. He last played for a team in 2002, his senior year at Lawrence High. Wilson has taken some classes at Kansas University but never has considered his game good enough to try out for the golf team. He’s in his fourth year working at Golf USA.

“I’ve just been practicing, working on my game,” Wilson said. “Working at Golf USA has been huge. It’s enabled me to keep my game in shape. No. 1, I have access to be able to hit balls during the winter to keep my game in shape. No. 2, I have access to people who know the equipment, know what they’re talking about. My room for error is a little lighter because of the information at my disposal.”

Wilson was referring to the swing analyzer/launch monitor Golf USA customers use at the store to determine which equipment would best suit them.

“I optimized everything to get the most forgiveness and the most distance out of every club,” Wilson said. “I certainly think it makes a difference. I’m playing the best golf I’ve ever played, and it’s all happened since I started working here.”

Wilson said he uses a 9-degree Tour Edge Exotic Proto off the tee. It worked well for him on No. 16, but he pulled a wedge left to leave himself a difficult chip and lost the hole to square the match heading into the final two holes.

Holmgren lost a ball on No. 17 to give Wilson the hole. Wilson closed out the match on the final hole by pushing his opponent with a par.

“I barely played better than he did,” Wilson said. “It wasn’t necessarily pretty.”

In the end, he won one more hole than his opponent, and that’s all that mattered.

“I like match play,” he said. “It’s so much easier to stay in the present.”

After his big day on the course, Wilson had time to go home, spend some time with his mini-beagle puppy, Pedro, then it was off to work.

Wilson was the only one of 18 golfers who call Lawrence home to advance to match play. The others who competed, listed in the order of their finishes: Conrad Roberts, Michael Rack, Luke Trammell, Steve Randall, Lynn Riney, Tom Rainbolt, Nick Burkhart, Daniel Brumley, Stewart Platz, Jake Carpenter, Tim Plumb, Scott Tystad, Charles Junge, Travis Walsh, Kyle Capps, Todd Chapple and Jon Broz.

The crowning of the 2007 Kansas Amateur champion is scheduled to take place Sunday, by which time the champion and runner-up will have played 108 holes in a three-day span and 162 holes in six days.

Two former Kansas University golfers remain in the hunt for the title.

Two-time Kansas amateur champion Gary Woodland, seeded second, defeated Tyler Lytton of Augusta, 1 up. Barrett Martens won his match, 6&5, against Andrew Manley of Salina. Martens takes on Dean Merrill of Kansas City, Mo. at 8:24. Woodland’s match against Leawood’s Tyler Trout is set to start at 8:42.