ST. LOUIS — On Friday, Brad Nurski literally lost his driver; Saturday, he figuratively lost his putter.

The latter proved far more damaging to his chances at the Missouri Amateur Championship at the WingHaven Country Club.

The St. Joseph golfer lost, 3 and 2, to top-seeded Drew Lethem in the quarterfinals of match play Saturday, ending Nurski’s furthest foray into this tournament.

“Really not much to say,” said Nurski, the No. 24 seed in the tournament. “I hit it down the middle of the fairway. I was inside of him most of the time and couldn’t make a putt.”

After sinking six birdies in one of his two winning rounds Friday, Nurski hit only one Saturday against Lethem, who golfs for Georgia Southern.

“You get some putts to fall, and you can start making birdies. Pars weren’t good enough to win today,” Nurski said. “I would’ve beat him if I was making even three or four putts. I would’ve been right there at the end. I just didn’t make a single thing.”

Andrew Hatten, a 2000 Cameron graduate, lost to Missouri State’s Matt Sullivan, 1 up, in the quarterfinals as well — the last local golfer to bow out of the event.

The tournament concludes a busy stretch of play for Nurski in the eastern part of the state. He fell one stroke shy of qualifying for the U.S. Open in Augusta, Mo., at the beginning of June. Nurski looks forward to spending some time in St. Joseph with two local tournaments coming up.

“It will be fun not to travel to St. Louis to try to get something done,” said Nurski, who added about those two experiences, “Confidence is the main thing (I took away from those two tournaments). You can play with just about anybody in the state hopefully a lot of other people too as well.”

Next year the Missouri Amateur Championship comes to the St. Joseph Country Club, and Nurski hopes a short drive and a healthy familiarity with the course will help him make it even further in the competition.