Alan Cooke finishes off West Virginia Amateur title

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, WV (June 9, 2016) -- West Virginia senior Alan Cooke put together a stellar final round and ran away with the West Virginia Amateur title on Thursday afternoon at the Greenbrier Resort. Cooke finished the four day tournament 1-under-par and eight shots in front of second place finisher Phillip Reale II. With the win Cooke also received an invitation into the PGA Tour's Greenbrier Classic. When asked about playing in a PGA Tour event by the media gathered after the completion of play Cooke responded, "I have no idea if (it hasn't hit me yet). I can't even think about that yet. I've always dreamed of playing in a tour event." After struggling to a 4-over 76 in the third round, Cooke responded during the final day with a 3-under 67. Cooke came out of the gates firing with birdies on three of his first four holes, before cooling off with bogeys on six and seven. Despite the two slip ups Cooke still opened in 1-under 33. The back nine began steadily for Cooke with seven pars before he put the exclamation on his title with birdies on each of the last two holes. Following 72-holes of play Cooke carded 15 birdies and 13 bogeys but the crucial stat was the zero in the double-bogey and other categories. Cooke also took advantage of the par-5's playing them in 4-under for the week. Phillip Reale II finished a distant second at 7-over, Will Evans was 8-over in third, defending champion Sam O'Dell finished 9-over and in fourth while Joey Seabright at 12-over rounded out the top-five.