Rice Planter's: USF's Fernandes goes wire-to-wire
Rigel Fernandes
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (June 21, 2014) -- University of South Florida's Rigel Fernandes completed a masterful run at the 2014 Rice Planter's Amateur, firing a closing 5-under 67 to win by seven shots.
Fernandes led wire-to-wire and it was never really in doubt. He opened with a 7-under 65 at Snee Farm Country Club and turned in two other rounds in the 60s. His bookend 67s through the final three rounds helped him gain and then keep pace with Andrew Novak, who took second place.
Novak carded rounds of 71-69-71-67 to finish alone as the runner-up.
Daniel Pizetoski and Rhyne Jones were tied for third thanks to solid play in Saturday's finale. Pizetoski shot 68 while Jones fired a 69 to climb the leaderboard.
The trio of Tom Swanson, Jon Weiss and Travis Smyth tied for fifth, finishing 10 shots off the stellar pace set by Fernandes.
ABOUT THE Rice Planters Amateur
The Rice Planters Amateur was the inspiration of
amateur golfer, Dick Horne. During his first Porter
Cup
at the Niagara Falls Country Club in 1973, Horne
befriended the tournament's chairman Dick Harvey.
Harvey encouraged a receptive Horne to develop his
own southern tournament and, consequently, along
with other Porter Cup officials, shared enough useful
information to get Horne started in the South. The
Rice Planters quickly grew to become one of the top
amateur events in the country.
FORMAT AND ENTRY
INFORMATION
The Rice Planters is played over
54 holes of stroke play. While
entries are
by invitation only, the tournament typically
holds a 90-player qualifier for the final five spots in
the
field.
View Complete Tournament Information