M.J. Maguire rallies to win Southern Amateur

July 19, 2014 | by AmateurGolf.com Staff

M.J. Maguire (Golfweek photo)

North Florida's M.J. Maguire shot a 1-under 71 to leap Beau Hossler and win the prestigious title

OOLTEWAH, Tenn. (July 19, 2014) – Playing steady in wet, windy conditions Saturday at the difficult Honors Course, St. Pete’s M.J. Maguire won the 108th Southern Amateur. He captured the prestigious title by avoiding the various disasters that befell other players when they were atop the finat round leaderboard.

Maguire, a sports management senior at the University of North Florida, closed with a 1-under-par 71 for a 284 total that was three shots clear of the star-studded and star-crossed field. “This is by far the biggest win of my amateur career,” said Maguire, who began playing conservative when so many others were flaming out.

Overnight leader Beau Hossler, the Texas Longhorn star from California, triple bogeyed the first hole, then suffered a quadruple bogey seven on the third hole. His mangled scorecard added up to an unthinkable 46 on the front nine.

After a practice round early in the week, Hossler tweeted his followers thusly: “The Honors Course is HARD!!” Indeed.

Virginia Tech senior Trevor Cone inherited the top spot only to go bogey-bogey-double bogey midway through the back nine. That left Aussie Geoff Drakeford in front, but he suffered the biggest disaster of all when he hit two balls in the hazard on the 16th hole where a 2-shot penalty on his caddy was tacked on for a quintuple bogey eight, allowing Maguire to cruise home to the victory.

As champion, Maguire earns an invitation to play in the PGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational next spring in Orlando. “I’ll be there,” he said emphatically.

Results: Southern Amateur

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	M.J. Maguire	St. Petersburg, FL	1000	69-72-72-71=284
T2	Victor Perez	, France	700	72-70-71-74=287
T2	Geoffrey Drakeford	, Australia	700	68-74-70-75=287
T4	Beau Hossler	Mission Viejo, CA	500	70-68-70-80=288
T4	Scott Vincent	, Zimbabwe	500	72-72-74-70=288

View full results for Southern Amateur

About the Southern Amateur

M.J. Maguire rallies to win Southern Amateur

The Southern Amateur, which dates back to 1902, is one of two competitions held by the Southern Golf Association (the other is the Southern Junior). This is a 72-hole stroke play championship with a cut made after 36 holes. Entries are open to any ma...