Close call: Brody Stevenson misses water by inches at the last, wins St. Augustine Amateur
Brody Stevenson had his golf game on cruise control and after dropping a 12-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole of the St. John Golf Club he took a two-shot lead to the tee of the par-5 closing hole on Sunday in the final round of the St. Augustine Amateur.
It was then that he almost let two days of hard work, which produced 31 consecutive bogey-free holes at that point, slip away into the water left of the 18th green.
“Two inches,” he said after the round about how close his 2-iron second shot came to a dousing. “That’s how close I came to the water."
But he found the ball sitting nicely in a patch of rough, dry and in play. Stevenson lofted a high pitch from there to within 8 feet of the hole and then made the putt to close out a 65 and a 54-hole total of 11-under-par 202, two shots ahead of Andre Zhu (68), a native of Ontario, Canada and a high school junior, and three clear of Kent Hsiao (71), a Purdue junior.
St. Augustine Amateur, round one: UNF freshman Filippo Serra has adventuresome day
St. Augustine Amateur, round two: Kent Hsaio, Camden Goldknopf tied for lead
Camden Golfknopf (71), a senior at Episcopal, and 13-year-old Darren Zhou (68) tied for fourth at 7-under.
Brody Stevenson came from three shots back
Stevenson, a Bartram Trail graduate and a freshman at Florida Gulf Coast, started the day three shots off the 36-hole lead shared by Hsiao and Goldknopf but surged ahead with four consecutive birdies on the front nine, Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7. Three of the birdie putts were 10 feet or less and he drained a 30-footer at No. 6.
Stevenson then put together nine pars in a row, a streak that was broken by a 50-minute rain delay. At the time Stevenson and Goldknopf were tied for the lead at 9-under and eight players were within three shots.
The field returned to get the final round completed before darkness set in but with soft greens and no wind, no one could put together enough of a rally to pressure Stevenson.
Playing on a veteran Florida Gulf Coast team has helped
Stevenson took a bow for his putting all week but said the real keys have been his course management and focus, which he said has been sharpened by his first fall at FGCU.
Stevenson played in only one tournament, the final event of the fall in Hawaii. But he shot 67 in the third round to further boost his confidence.
“We’ve got a lot of seniors and it’s tough to get into the starting lineup,” he said. “But playing against those guys in qualifiers and practice has made me a better player. They push me because I know what it takes to beat them.”
The St. Augustine Amateur was played for the 18th time after a two-year break for an $8 million renovation project under architect Erik Larsen.
With relatively tame conditions, 17 players broke par for the tournament and 20 matched the par of 71 or lower.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Bartram Trail graduate Brody Stevenson captures St. Augustine Amateur
