New Hartford's Derek Bard, in only his second U.S. amateur start, has worked all the way to the finals of the United States Amateur golf tournament on Sunday at Olympia Fields Country Club outside Chicago.

Bard, 20, beat Japan's Kenta Kinishi with a 3 and 2 on Saturday and the win earned him into Sunday's final, as well as automatically qualifying him a spot in next year's Masters and U.S. Open.  Sunday's winner will also earn a spot in the British Open.

Bard will face the heavily favored NCAA champion Bryson DeChambeau on Sunday on FOX at 3 p.m..  DeChambeau is currently ranked 7th in the world as an amateur. Bard was ranked 51st coming into the tournament.

What does Bard have to do to win it all today?  This is what he told the USGA.org:

“I was talking to some of my friends and my dad earlier. I just said, ‘Yeah, I'm going to have to play my best golf to have a chance tomorrow, because he's been playing very solid leading up to this point, and I'm just going to have one of those days where everything falls the right way from here.”

Bard, a New Hartford High School graduate, attends college at the University of Virginia.

Check out this 'Who are the Finalists'  video from the USGA featuring Bard and DeChambeau.

USGA video screenshot http://www.usga.org/videos/2015/08/22/150822-usam_meet-the-finalists-4439068418001.html
USGA video screenshot http://www.usga.org/videos/2015/08/22/150822-usam_meet-the-finalists-4439068418001.html
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Check out The Tale of the Tape on the USGA website here.

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