Jacob Bergeron wins incredible 24-man play-off at US Amateur

The field for the match-play stage of this week's US Amateur Championship was confirmed a day later than scheduled following a remarkable 24-man play-off at Pebble Beach.

With 63 players qualifying outright after two rounds of strokeplay, the final place was not decided on Tuesday evening due to the logjam in a share of 64th.

New Zealand's Daniel Hillier earned the No 1 seeding after finishing on six under after the two stroke-play rounds at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill concluded on Tuesday, but his first-round opponent was not decided until the following morning.

The 24 players tied for 64th place on four-over par returned to Pebble Beach early on Wednesday morning to play off for the one remaining place in the match-play field, with many expecting a marathon session of extra holes.

However, the play-off lasted only two holes and ended in bizarre circumstances as Jacob Bergeron earned the right to take on Hillier in the round of 64.

The play-off began on the iconic par-three 17th hole, and Bergeron and Peter Kuest were the only two players to make a birdie and send the other 22 out of the competition.

Both the remaining competitors split the fairway at the long 18th, but Kuest's decision to go at the green in two backfired as he tugged his second into the Pacific Ocean on the left.

Bergeron's second had finished behind the famous tree that guards the front-right section of the green, and he opted to pitch out to the edge of the putting surface with Kuest preparing to take a penalty drop.

Kuest then came up short with his fourth before chipping to four feet, but he missed the bogey putt as well as the return to card an eight, leaving Bergeron with the simple task of two-putting for the winning bogey-six.

"This is definitely the craziest play-off I've ever been a part of," said Bergeron ahead of his clash against Hillier, who was tied for the lead with highly-rated young American Cole Hammer but was named top seed as he was the first to complete his second round.

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Meanwhile, 2013 winner Matt Fitzpatrick could have another US Amateur champion in his family after his brother Alex advanced to the match-play stages along with fellow Englishman Harry Hall.

Fitzpatrick qualified with a shot to spare and will play seventh seed Ian Siebers in the round of 64, while Hall faced a tough clash against Stewart Hagestad, who created history at the Masters last year when he became the first Mid-Amateur champion to finish as low amateur at Augusta National.