STRATHAM — Thursday morning, Connor Greenleaf will be able to do something he hasn't done in a long time — sleep in.

On Wednesday, the Windham resident and lone New Hampshire representative remaining at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship was eliminated 2 and 1 by Victor Wiggins, ending a stretch of three tournaments in two weeks.

Greenleaf led by two holes early in the match and trailed by as many as three on the back nine before eventually halving the 17th hole and ending his run at the Golf Club of New England.

“I'm proud of myself,” Greenleaf said. “I made the cut and I went into (match play Wednesday) saying lets get as much out of this as I can.”

He got off to a hot start and was 2-up after three holes.

Then things started to change. The two golfers halved the fourth hole and then 29th-seeded Wiggins, who hails from Gastonia, N.C., won two of the next three holes to square the match.

Greenleaf, the 36th seed, never again led.

► USGA match play scoring tree

“It gets you comfortable,” Greenleaf said about getting the early two-hole lead. “It's like sometimes in a round you can do too good and get too relaxed.”

In the meantime, he said it was like a “wake-up” call for Wiggins, who went 3-up when he won the 12th hole. He birdied the ninth and tenth holes to go 2-up and went 3-up with a par at 12.

Greenleaf said he felt he hit a perfect three wood off the tee at 12, but his shot went into the bunker. He made bogey at the par-4.

“That was a real push back,” Greenleaf said. “It felt really bad.”

The local wasn't done yet. He won holes 13 and 14 with pars to pull within a hole going to the par-5 15th, which they halved.

Then Wiggins made birdie to win the 16th and go 2-up before they halved the 17th to end the match.

Nicolas Echavarria, the Colombian who was seeded second after qualifying, faced a scare in his match with No. 63 Jacob Ross of Brookhaven, Miss.

Ross was 2-up after 13 holes, thanks to three straight birdies, and then Echavarria came roaring back. He won 14 and 15 with pars to square things up and then went 1-up at the par-3 17th, where Ross put two tee shots in the water and conceded the hole.

“It was better to hit first (at 17) because I can put the pressure on,” Echavarria said. “I put it on the green and it was a great relief.”

Echavarria won the 18th to claim the match.

The biggest upset of the day came from No. 60 Matthew Scobie of Canada, who downed fifth-seeded Carter Jenkins of Raleigh, N.C., 1-up.

Medalist Jim Liu of Smithtown, N.Y., won his match against No. 64 Nicholas Crozier of Canada, 5 and 4, to advance to the round of 32 on Thursday. Another golfer of interest, Beau Hossler, who had sole possession of first place at the U.S. Open at one point this year, won his match 4 and 2 with Sean Smothers of Tamarac, Fla. Hossler is from Mission Viejo, Calif.

There will be two rounds Thursday. The round of 32 will start at 7:30 a.m. and the round of 16 will start at 1 p.m.

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Mark Quirk may be reached at mquirk@unionleader.com.