2009 Carolinas Amateur champion
CHARLESTON, SC (July 12, 2009)--Final round match play results of the 95th Amateur Championship of the Carolinas Golf Association hosted by the Country Club of Charleston in Charleston, SC on Sunday, July 12, 2009 (par 36-35—71, 6797 yards, 71.7/129).
Jack Fields, 19, of Southern Pines, NC defeats Josh Gallman, 20, of Gaffney, SC by an 8 and 7 score to win the 95th Carolinas Amateur Championship.
Fields, a rising sophomore at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, never trailed in the 36-hole final match. Gallman, a rising senior at the University of South Carolina-Upstate was able to hang close to Fields for the first seven holes of the match. However Fields’ back-to-back-birdies on the 8th and 9th holes vaulted him to a quick 3 up lead and that was as close as Gallman would get for the rest of the match. Holes 10 and 11 were halved.
On the par 4 12th hole, Fields rolled in the fifth of eleven birdies on the day to take a 4 up lead. Gallman won the 13th hole with a par 4 to go 3 down. Fields then poured on the pressure by winning four out of the next five holes to take a 7 up lead after the morning 18 holes.
“I wanted to keep going after the first 18 holes”, Fields said. “I had the momentum and felt confident during the round. I knew if I kept making pars and birdies that I would win”.
The afternoon round began with the 19th hole being halved with par fours. It took 20 holes but Gallman finally made his first birdie of the day to cut the lead to a 6 up Fields advantage. The 21st hole was halved with par threes.
Fields then won the next two holes with birdies to take an almost insurmountable 8 up lead. At a time where Gallman needed to make a move, he and Fields halved the 24th through 27th holes.
Gallman’s birdie on the 28th hole cut the lead to 7 up for Fields.
However on the infamous 186-yard par 3 11th hole (29th hole of the match) Gallman’s tee shot landed short and rolled all the way down the false front back into the fairway. Fields then took dead-aim and hit his shot on the back right fringe just 18 feet from the hole. Gallman was unable to get up and down for the par. Fields had two putts to win the championship but put an exclamation point on the match by canning the putt from just off the green to win 8 and 7.
“The 11th hole dominated me this week”, Fields noted. “I never hit the green in regulation and I think I made six bogeys and only one par. I knew I had two putts to win but wanted to make that birdie putt”.
Fields plans to try to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Championship later this month at Little River Golf Resort in Carthage, NC. “If I can make the U.S. Amateur then this week will give me a big boost of confidence. I cannot tell you the last time I won a match play tournament. It’s a great honor to have won both the Carolinas Amateur and North Carolina Amateur”. Fields is one of ten individuals to win both the Carolinas Amateur and the North Carolina Amateur Championships.
This championship is conducted by the Carolinas Golf Association which is celebrating its 100th year of serving amateur golf in the Carolinas.
For more information on the Carolinas Amateur Championship visit: http://www.carolinasgolf.org/tourn/2009/yearbook/am.pdf
View results for Carolinas Amateur
ABOUT THE Carolinas Amateur
The championship is conducted at 72 holes of stroke
play. After 36 holes, there is a cut to the low 60
scores and ties. Entry is open to any male amateur
golfer who has reached his 13th birthday by the first
day of the championship, is a legal resident of North
Carolina or South Carolina, is a member in good
standing of a club which is a member of the CGA
and
has an active GHIN USGA Handicap Index at a CGA
member club that does not exceed 9.9.
The Frank F. Capers Cup Team Competition is held
during rounds one and two of the Carolinas Amateur
Championship. Three or four bona fide members
from the same club comprise a team. The low three
scores count each round.
Format changed from match play to stroke
play in 2010.
View Complete Tournament Information