Survive and advance.

That’s the name of the game when it comes to the match play rounds of the 84th U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.

Oklahoma assistant golf coach Phillip Bryan and junior-to-be Liam Logan did just that Wednesday afternoon at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club.

Bryan, who was a member on OU’s only Big 12 Championship team in 2006, defeated Braxton Marquez of Scottsdale, Ariz., 2 and 1 Wednesday afternoon while battling the Oklahoma summer heat.

“I actually played really well, and Braxton played really well also,” said the Mustang, Okla., native. “My first day I played pretty well. Yesterday, I played my back nine well, and today, I kept to my own and was consistent.”

But the former four-year letterman knows he will need to make putts in order to win his morning match today in the round of 32.

“I missed a whole lot of putts today,” said Bryan following his Wednesday match. “It’s kind of that five to 15 foot range where I kept thinking I was going to make it, but I was hitting good putts, and I’m hoping that they fall.”

Even though he missed some putts, Bryan has put himself in contention. And with him favoring match play, the former Sooner player and current coach could find himself in good position as the weekend looms.

“I like match play a lot better [than stroke competition] because if you do make a double or triple bogey it only hurts you one hole not two or three shots,” said Bryan, who won the 2004 6A state championship as a senior at Mustang High School.

On the other side of the bracket, Logan survived a 20-hole duel with the youngest player still left in the U.S. Publinx field.

Sixteen-year old Anders Albertson pushed Logan to the brink after taking a 1-up advantage by way of winning the 480 yard, par-4 17th.

Logan’s drive off the 17th tee went right, and despite help from spectators in the gallery, his competitor and members of the local media, the ball could not be found.

With one down and one to play, Logan responded on the 584 yard, par-5 18th hole.

After hitting a mammoth of a drive off the 18th tee box, Logan then stuck a 4-iron from 235 yards out to 20 feet, and a putt for eagle.

“I hit the drive really good,” said Logan following his grueling match. “It was the best drive all day, and then the second shot [into the 18th] I hit really solid.”

Taking advantage of an Albertson miscue off the tee, Logan then two-putted to force a sudden death playoff starting on the first hole.

With both players halving the opening sudden death hole, the match moved to the second hole, 170 yard par-3.

“He was hitting driver and 3-woods all day to the green and then two putting,” said Logan, who consistently out drove the young future all-star Albertson. “He was short [off the tee], but you expect someone like that to have a really good short game.”

And when both players missed the green on the par-3, that short game was shown as it had throughout the entire match.

Albertson hit a high flop shot over the right side bunker, and Logan responded with a chip to six feet, forcing tournament officials to measure who would attempt their par putt first.

Logan would make, and Albertson would miss on the low side of the hole, advancing Logan to Thursday’s matches.

Looking to become the U.S. Publinx champion 10 years after another Sooner, Hunter Hass, won the title in 1999, both Bryan and Logan know there is still a long way to go.

“The thing about match play is every match is different, and you start over after every single match,” said Bryan. “We’ll start again tomorrow morning and see how it goes, but to win the whole thing is getting way, way ahead of ourselves.”

By Thursday’s end, the field will be cut to 8 players, with the round of 32 and round of 16 being played all in one day.

Players from today’s morning matches will play a second match later in the afternoon.

Bryan is first of the Sooner duo off the tee at 7:54 a.m., when he plays Gene Webster Jr., of San Bernandino, Calif., who advanced yesterday with a 6 & 4 victory.

Logan will tee off at 8:48 a.m. against Jace Long of Dixon, Mo., the tournament’s No. 3 seed overall. Long advances after defeating Ryan Sloane, of Campbell, Calif., 2-up.