TURNBERRY, Scotland (PA) -- Nigel Edwards took another step toward the "dream" victory he craves as he eased into the last 32 of the British Amateur on the Ailsa Course at Turnberry on Wednesday.

The 39-year-old Welsh Walker Cup stalwart, who first played in the championship two decades ago, powered to a 4 & 3 win over Mark Thistleton to set up a second-round joust with Andrew Sullivan.

Edwards has enjoyed a glittering career in the unpaid ranks. He holed the winning putt for Great Britain and Ireland in the 2003 Walker Cup, but a quarter-final appearance at Birkdale in 2005 remains his best run in the amateur game's most celebrated event.

"I've been playing in this for the best part of 20 years and the dream is to win it," said Edwards, who missed the qualifying cut the last time the British Amateur was held at Turnberry in 1996. "You don't want to come here and lose and, like everybody else in the field, I want the title."

Edwards had been 1 down to Thistleton after three holes, but that early setback stirred him into action. He won five of the next six holes to surge into a commanding four-hole lead that he never looked like relinquishing.

"I think experience helps round this course," he added. "You know you are going to get bad bounces and tricky lies, but that is links golf and you have to be patient."

As Edwards continued his assault on the title, English teenager Sam Hutsby, the No. 1 qualifier, saw his hopes evaporate as he went down 3 & 2 to California's T.J. Bordeaux.

Hutsby, runner-up in the Welsh Open last month, became the eighth player in the last 10 championships to lead the strokeplay rounds and then lose in the opening knockout stage.

Chris Wood, who beat Hutsby to the Welsh title, enjoyed better fortune as he carved out an impressive 3 & 2 win over Australian Tim Stewart, the British Amateur runner-up last season.

One down after 10 holes, Wood produced a telling thrust on the closing stretch and won 11, 12, 13 and 14 to turn the deficit into a match-winning lead.

Brabazon Trophy winner Steven Uzzell exited after a narrow one-hole defeat to Spaniard Jorge Campillo, but Scottish No. 1 Callum Macaulay, a semifinalist a year ago, enjoyed a 4 & 3 win over countryman Neil Henderson.

Irish Walker Cup player Jonathan Caldwell, the second qualifier, also won 4 & 3 against Alexander Culverwell -- the last man to make the matchplay stages.

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