Tim Jackson shot a second-round 72 yesterday to become the oldest player to earn medalist honors in the 109-year history of the U.S. Amateur.

Jackson, a 50-year-old real estate developer from Germantown, Tenn. overcame a one-shot penalty for slow play to finish two rounds of qualifying with an even-par total of 140.

The top 64 in the field of 312 move into match play today at South Hills Country Club, with the 36-hole final set for Sunday.

Hawai'i golfers Alex Ching (76—150) and Sam Cyr (75—158) failed to make the cut of 148.

Jackson's group, which included John Kostis of Paradise Valley, Ariz., and Patrick Duncan Jr. of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., was warned by USGA officials after the fourth hole that it had fallen off the pace. It was given a second warning at the ninth hole and, after it failed to close the gap to the next group by No. 13, was subject to an additional two-shot penalty.

The USGA only assessed the one-shot penalty at the conclusion of the round.

Jackson, a two-time USGA Mid-Amateur champion and the 36-hole leader at this year's U.S. Senior Open, again exhibited solid ball striking and sound course management while being outdriven by more than 30 yards by his younger competitors.

"I'm out here trying to beat the best amateurs in the world," Jackson said. "It means an awful lot to me to be the medalist. I'm not a record book reader or anything like that but today, I went out there and I just went for it. I hit shots today that, in years past, I might just have laid up or played 40 feet away from the hole."

Ben Martin of Greenwood, S.C., Will Strickler of Gainesville, Fla., and Mark Anderson of Beauford, S.C., finished a stroke behind Jackson.

A 27-man playoff for the final four places in the match play field of 64 will begin this morning with the first round of match play to follow.

MORITA EARNS HONOR

Chaminade's Layne Morita, a senior from Kapa'a, was recently named the Pacific West Conference Men's Golf Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Morita, who has a 3.7 cumulative GPA in history and political studies, had two first-place finishes and three runner-ups in the Silverswords' 10 match season in 2009. He was named to the All-PacWest second team.