“Making birdies is not something that comes easy out here. I don’t expect it on every hole but I kept hitting one shot at a time hoping to get good looks on the green,” Bruns said.

The No. 12 seed was able to extend his lead to 4 up after Holliday made a bogey that was a result of a wayward tee shot on No. 11. The USC Aiken golfer turned to his driver to help stage a comeback. Holliday piped a drive down the left side of the par-5 13th which led to a birdie which was good enough to win the hole. Both players had around ten feet for par on the 14th. Burns was away and missed, opening the door for Holliday to seize the momentum and cut the deficit to 2 down. However his par putt also slipped by the hole.

Bruns was within two feet for par on No. 15, essentially forcing Holliday to make his 8-footer for par to extend the match. The No. 10 seed did just that pushing the match to the par-4 16th. Holliday left a downhill slider for birdie above the hole, which did not end up mattering when Bruns sunk his birdie putt to win 4&2 and become the 44th South Carolina Amateur Match Play champion.

“It was a great way to end it. I wanted to see one last putt go in, and it did,” Bruns said. Winning this championship required Bruns to advance through 36 holes of stroke play and win five 18 hole matches, which left the champion, as he put it, “exhausted.”

Bruns went on to thank his brother for caddying all week as well as his parents, including his father who was in attendance Sunday, giving Father’s Day a special meaning. With the win Bruns gets his name engraved on the trophy and an exemption into the 102nd Carolinas Amateur Championship hosted by Country Club of Charleston July 14-17.