Michigan State senior James Piot advanced to the final of the USGA Amateur Championship on Saturday with a 4&3 match-play win over University of North Florida’s Nick Gabrelcik, the 2021 national freshman of the year in college golf.

Piot, who qualified for the US Amateur as the No. 31 seed, will now play University of North Carolina star Austin Greaser, the No. 24 seed, in the championship match at Pennsylvania’s Oakmont Country Club on Sunday.

Greaser defeated University of Texas star and No. 4 seed Travis Vick 2&1.

Piot and Greaser will play a 36-hole match on Sunday. TV coverage will begin at 3:00 pm on the Golf Channel, before moving to NBC at 4:00 pm.

If he were to defeat Greaser, Piot, who is from Canton, would become the first golfer from Michigan to win the US Amateur.

Winning the US Amateur would also give Piot a place among golf royalty. Previous winners of the event include Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Phil Mickelson among others.

Piot won this match by winning three consecutive holes – the ninth, 10th, and 11th. With a commanding 3-Up lead against a younger opponent, Piot tried to keep things simple and risk-free down the stretch.

Easier said than done.

Piot recorded pars at 12, 13, and 14, putting Grabelcik in the unenviable position of having to win each of the remaining four holes to advance to the finals. Then, on the 500-yard Par-4 15th, Piot pushed a drive to the right off the tee and into a difficult lie in a fairway bunker. Grabelcik, by contrast, hit one of his better tee shots, finding the fairway on the left in a good position to chase a birdie.

With his ball near the lip of the bunker some 230 yards short of the green, Piot hit an iron out of the bunker, and a wedge to the green for a manageable par putt. Grabelcik could not, however, take advantage of his birdie opportunity. With a prime lie in the fairway, Grabelcik pushed an iron into the greenside bunker.

Piot drained an uphill 15-footer for par, turning the tables on Grabelcik, who couldn’t make a 10-foot putt that would have extended the match to a 16th hole.

“Just kept hitting greens and stayed solid, down the stretch,” Piot said. “Just keep putting the pressure on him. When you hit greens and fairways, it's hard, especially out here. Any hole you can make a bogey, or win with a par. I just kept to that plan today.”

A two-time All-Big Ten selection, Piot entered the US Amateur with momentum after making the Round of 16 at the Western Amateur in late July. One week after playing well at the Western Amateur, Piot won the Golf Association of Michigan Championship, finishing 7-under to edge out Michigan State teammate Bradley Smithson, and University of Wisconsin standout Coalter Smith by two strokes.

“I definitely felt like I was playing to where I had the potential to do well this week,” Piot said. “Going to the Sweet 16 at the Western Am, so a lot of positives just rolling into here. I just said take it one moment at a time, and it's been a phenomenal week so far.”

Piot opened the semifinal match with a bogey on the first hole, a 480-yard Par-4. Piot trailed only briefly, however, as Grabelcik bogeyed the second and third holes. Grabelcik brought the match back to even with a birdie on the 375-yard fifth hole, and appeared as if he would go 1-Up on the Par-3 sixth, as Piot pushed his tee shot far right.

The Michigan State senior, however, managed to get up and down from a tricky hillside location to keep the match even. Piot regained the lead with a par on the seventh, but gave it away on the next hole.

The back-and-forth continued, as Piot took a 1-Up lead into the turn with a par on the 477-yard Par-4 ninth. Piot caught a break off the tee, managing to keep his tee shot in the fairway despite pulling the ball left. Grabelcik also went left off the tee, but wasn’t as lucky. His ball burrowed into tall grass in a hazard. On the following hole, Piot took a 2-Up lead when Grabelcik missed a short par putt.

Piot took firm control of the match with a birdie at the Par-4, 379-yard 11th hole to go 3-Up for the match, draining an uphill putt to put his opponent in a tough situation. Grabelcik narrowly missed a birdie putt at the Par-3 13th that would have cut into Piot’s lead three-hole lead.

A two-time All-Big Ten selection, Piot won two tournaments during the collegiate golf season, while becoming the first Michigan State player to qualify for the NCAA Championship Tourney as an individual since Eric Jorgenson in 2002.