By GARRY SMITS
The Times-Union

St. Augustine, Florida (October 19, 2008) -- The second ranked player of 2008 in the amateurgolf.com -Bridgestone Golf Player Rankings, Zach Sucher, fired a 2-under par 68 on Sunday to overcome a 3-stroke deficit and then some, winning by three at 3-under par 207.

Sucher won the St. Augustine Amateur mainly because he avoided the disasters that melted away his competition, one-by-one, on the back nine of the St. Johns Golf Club.

Don't think he wasn't aware that it could have happened to him on the tight layout, strewn with hazards and made even more difficult with brisk wind the entire final round. But Sucher held on with a final-round 68, giving him a three-round total of 3-under-par 207 and a three-shot victory over Bartram Trail senior Julian Suri (69) and Central Florida senior David Johnson (72).

"It was very tough out there," said Sucher, an Alabama-Birmingham senior who is 53rd in the most recent Golfweek college rankings. "I usually like it when it's windy but when you have a course with hazards on both sides of the hole a lot of times, and small greens, you have to work to keep your concentration."

Sucher had to work harder than he thought on his last four holes.

He made the turn at 3-under for the tournament and a one-shot lead over Jordan Holley, then birdied the two par-5 holes on the back to lower his score to 5-under and take a four-shot lead with four to play.

However, he bogeyed Nos. 15 and 16, and Johnson birdied the 14th hole to pull within one shot.

Sucher recovered to make a 3-foot par putt at No. 17 and a two-putted for par from 40 feet at No. 18, while Johnson lost his final chance when he was short of the 16th green, chipped 15 feet short of the hole, then three-putted for a double-bogey.

"I hit a bad chip and two bad putts," said Johnson. "That's was the wrong time to throw away shots like that."

Johnson wasn't the only player to get close, then drop off with one disastrous hole.

Holley was within one shot before he made a quadruple-bogey 7 at the par-3 12th hole.

And Christopher Wolfe drove the 15th green and two-putted for birdie to get within two of Sucher, then tripled the 16th hole after hooking his tee shot in the water. Holley was victimized at the 12th hole when his tee shot landed on a mound of sand that was the result of a messy rake job from a group preceding his.

His first attempt out of the trap went only 1 foot before it landed and plugged near the lip, leaving him almost no chance to get the ball out on his second bunker shot. He finally got out in three, but then three-putted.

Suri birdied five-of-seven holes during on stretch to get into contention, but got no closer after playing the last four holes at 1-over.

Final results from the St. Augustine Amateur, played at the par 70, 6708 yard St. Johns Golf Club follow:

Pos	Player	Rd1	Rd2	Rd3	Tot
1	Zach Sucher	69	70	68	207
T2	Julian Suri	72	69	69	210
T2	David Johnson	69	69	72	210
T4	Andreas Hartoe	71	74	66	211
T4	Jay Moseley	72	68	71	211
T4	Christopher Wolfe	69	70	72	211
T7	Michael Hebert	69	73	70	212
T7	Chris Kennedy	69	70	73	212
9	M.J. Maguire	67	69	77	213
10	Jordan Holley	70	68	76	214
T11	Erik Downs	69	74	72	215
T11	Major Forbess	68	74	73	215
13	Eddie Brescher III	70	69	77	216
T14	Hojin Kang	75	69	73	217
T14	Scott Jones	70	72	75	217
T14	Chris Bray	68	73	76	217
T14	Eduardo Chavez	65	74	78	217
18	Duke Butler IV	73	72	73	218
19	Seth Parmer	71	77	71	219
20	Jacob Davidson	75	70	75	220
T21	Tom Drill	76	74	71	221
T21	Jason Gandy	77	69	75	221
T21	Tom Murray	75	72	74	221
T21	Patrick Lamb	79	66	76	221
T21	Danny Evelyn	73	69	79	221
T26	Tyler McCumber	71	74	77	222
T26	Max McKay	71	73	78	222
T26	Drew Pressentin	70	73	79	222
T26	Kevin Phelan	73	68	81	222
30	Greg Carrier	69	73	81	223
31	Robert Gleixner	75	75	74	224
T32	Thomas Stewart	71	79	75	225
T32	Steven Davis	78	74	73	225
T32	Justin Wingo	72	77	76	225
T35	A.J. Gerlach	78	71	78	227
T35	John Fritz	76	75	76	227
T35	John Phillips	74	71	82	227
T38	Mitchell Krywulycz	74	76	78	228
T38	Tommy Kayworh	74	78	76	228
T38	John Driscoll	76	71	81	228
T38	Cameron Simmons	74	80	74	228
T42	Joel Dahlenburg	72	78	79	229
T42	Ben Adelberg	75	76	78	229
T44	Will Coleman	79	73	78	230
T44	Matthew Salane	76	78	76	230
T46	Andrew Birchall	72	79	80	231
T46	Gregory Della-Pietra	74	80	77	231
T46	Drew Aimone	76	78	77	231
T46	Zachary Potter	82	75	74	231
T50	Doug Smith	73	77	82	232
T50	Andrew Giulani	76	74	82	232
T50	Greg Hanlon	82	76	74	232
T53	Carlos Ferraez	73	77	83	233
T53	Takeshi Fuchigami	73	76	84	233
T53	Ricky Sheffield	76	77	80	233
T53	David Thompson	76	78	79	233
T53	Jim Murray	76	78	79	233
T53	Tom Murtagh	75	81	77	233
T59	Zachary Lese	76	79	79	234
T59	Ed Waller	73	83	78	234
T59	Keith Hyatt	79	79	76	234
T62	A.J. Broderick	74	83	79	236
T62	Jan Jaro	80	79	77	236
64	Greg Mergel	81	77	79	237
T65	David Kim	75	83	80	238
T65	Barrett Hough	79	78	81	238
T67	Tim O'Neal	78	78	83	239
T67	Paul McGhee	82	77	80	239
T67	Chris Muratore	82	81	76	239
T70	Joseph Stewart	77	81	82	240
T70	Kazuki Imura	79	78	83	240
T70	Oliver Gilmartin	79	80	81	240
T70	Daniel Hanania	81	81	78	240
T70	Nicholas Torrance	83	77	80	240
75	Bryan Alred	83	77	81	241
76	Martin Hising	83	85	77	245
77	Miles Honeycutt	89	85	84	258

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