State College, Pa. - August 25, 2005 - Penn State Nittany Lion golfer Mark Leon (Brampton, Ontario) has won his first two match-play matches and is fairing well in the round of 16 at the 105th United States Amateur Championships, being held this week at Philadelphia's Merion Golf Club.

Leon, who was an All-Big Ten performer for Penn State and head coach Greg Nye as a senior last year, is currently 1-up on Kevin Chappell in the round of 16, airing live today on the Golf Channel.

The Ontario-native qualified for the event by winning his regional qualifier in Altoona in late-July. Since arriving in Philadelphia earlier this week, Leon has been superb. 308 golfers qualified for the Championships from over 9,000 who began the quest. Leon tied for 24th in stroke-play, a two-round tournament designed to narrow the field of 308 down to 64 for match play.

Leon won his first round match-play event 3-and-2 over Robert Riesen yesterday. This morning, he downed former Navy standout Billy Hurley 1-up and is currently 1-up in his third round match.

Should Leon win this afternoon, he would advance to the quarterfinals, which also air on the Golf Channel from 3 to 5 p.m. The semifinals and championships will air nationally on NBC Saturday and Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m.

Live scoring of the event is available at http://www.usamateur.org.