Nick Mayfield (Carolinas Golf Assoc. photo)
On a picture-perfect Sunday at Rock Hill (S.C.) Country Club,
Nick Mayfield of Rock Hill, S.C. was crowned the 50th South Carolina Amateur Champion at his home course. The Winthrop University golfer played excellent golf all throughout group play and bracket play, making him 7-0 on the week in his matches.
“I hit a lot of fairways and greens. This has been my home course my entire life, so I had a bit of an advantage,” Mayfield said. “I just tried to hit it as long as possible in the fairways, hit as many greens as possible, and not give any holes away.”
This victory marked Mayfield’s first Carolinas Golf Association Championship, which could not have come at a sweeter time than Father’s Day. Mayfield’s parents left early from a vacation in Hawaii just to see him play his final two matches, and were able to be there to celebrate the title with Nick.
In the championship match, Mayfield was in cruise control, defeating
Andrew Swanson of Bluffton, S.C., who earned runner-up, 4 & 2. Mayfield birdied holes three and four to take an early two-up lead on Swanson and did not look back.
“It was huge to get up early against Andrew,” Mayfield said. “It felt good to get up in the match and maintain the lead the entire time.”
Mayfield only lost one hole which was due to an impressive birdie by Swanson on the par 3, No. 12. Mayfield and Swanson each made par on the next three holes before a conceded birdie on the 16th that earned Mayfield the championship.
In his semifinal match, Mayfield defeated
Walt Todd Jr. of Greenville, S.C. 2 up, in a match that needed all 18 holes to decide a winner. After being two down through 12 holes, Mayfield rallied by winning five of the last six holes. A birdie on No. 18 sealed the comeback win for Mayfield.
His quarterfinal and round of 16 wins were a little less stressful, taking down
Brady Hinkle of Lancaster, S.C. 4 & 3 and former college teammate Mason Tucker of Lancaster, S.C., 3 & 2.
This year's tournament was played in a new format that is similar to the WGC Match Play Championship on the PGA Tour. It featured great competition from amateurs of all ages across South Carolina. With the talent of the field, Mayfield was ecstatic to come out on top.
“Winning is huge, it means a lot. The Junior Match Play was back here in 2018 and I didn’t get the result I wanted back then,” Mayfield said. “So when I saw the schedule at the beginning of the year that this was going to be here, I knew I wanted to take advantage of it and had a good chance of winning. It means everything to me”
View results for South Carolina Amateur Match Play
ABOUT THE South Carolina Amateur Match Play
Championship format is 36 holes of stroke play to
determine 32 qualifiers for
match play. The defending champion is seeded
number one
for match play if otherwise eligible.
Entry is open to any male amateur golfer who has
reached his 13th birthday, is a legal resident of
South Carolina, is a member in good
standing of a club which is a member of the
Carolinas Golf Association (CGA)
and has an active GHIN® USGA Handicap Index® at
a CGA member club that
does not exceed 7.4.
View Complete Tournament Information