College stars dominate U.S. Amateur Public Links field of quarterfinalists

Qualifying medalist Corbin Mills advanced to the U.S. Amateur Public Links quarterfinals Thursday, beating NCAA champion John Peterson and Talor Gooch on Bandon Dunes’ Old Macdonald course.

Mills, the 21-year-old Clemson player from Easley, S.C., beat Peterson, the LSU star from Fort Worth, Texas, 1-up in the second round. In the third round, Mills topped Gooch, an Oklahoma State player from Midwest City, Okla., 4 and 2.

In the quarterfinals Friday morning, Mills will face University of Oregon player Andrew Vijarro, a 2-and-1 winner over Robert Hoadley of Southern Pines, N.C. Vijarro is from Bend, Ore.

In the other third-round matches in the upper bracket, Harris English, a Georgia player from Thomasville, Ga., beat James Erkenbeck of San Diego 1-up, and J.J. Spaun of Los Angeles edged Herbie Aikens of Pembroke, Mass., 3 and 2.

In the lower-bracket quarterfinals, Jonathan Randolph of Brandon, Miss., will face Todd Baek of San Diego, and Derek Ernst of Clovis, Calif., will play Daniel Miernicki of Santee, Calif. Ernst won the 2010 and 2011 Mountain West Conference titles for UNLV, while Miernicki plays for Oregon. Baek and Spaun are teammates at San Diego State.

Randolph, a former Mississippi player, beat Kevin Miller of Dover, Ohio, 5 and 4; Baek edged T.J. Howe of Osceola, Pa., 3 and 1; Ernst topped Alex Edfort of Somerset, N.J., 4 and 3; and Miernicki beat Jack Schultz of Whitefish Bay, Wis., 4 and 3.

The tournament is limited to players who don’t hold privileges at any course that doesn’t extend playing privileges to the general public.