Flanagan wins U.S. Amateur title

OAKMONT, Pa., Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Nick Flanagan squandered a four-hole lead Sunday but defeated Casey Wittenberg on the first extra hole to win the men's U.S. Amateur Championship.

A 19-year-old Australian who started playing the game shortly after watching Tiger Woods claim the 1997 Masters, Flanagan won with a short par putt on the 37th hole. He became the first U.S. Amateur champion from Australia since Walter Travis in 1903.

The 18-year-old Wittenberg, a member of the United States Walker Cup team, was trying to become the second-youngest U.S. Amateur champion. Woods was four months younger when he earned the first of three straight titles in 1994.