At the end, it was the 18-year-old Trolio who lifted the trophy after shooting a final round 69 to earn a four-stroke victory over Clarke, who played collegiately at Mississippi State.
Trolio, a 18-year-old who will play collegiately at LSU starting in the fall, put together four subpar rounds of 65-67-68-69 on his home course to finish at 19-under 269 for the tournament. For the 72-hole tournament, Trolio made 25 birdies, one eagle and only eight bogeys en route to carding a winning score of 19-under 269. He was the only player in the field to turn in four rounds in the 60s.
“The putter was about the same as it was for the entire tournament,” said Trolio. “I just did what I needed to do to win the tournament. My goal was to get to 22-under, but even though I didn’t get there, I got the job done.”
It was Trolio’s first time competing in the Mississippi Amateur and with the win, he earns an exemption into the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms Invitational at The Country Club of Jackson in the fall.
“To get it done here with a PGA Tour exemption is awesome. It means a lot to me.
“I’ve played in a lot of junior events in my life and won a few of them but it was nice to move up a bit and compete and win at the next level,” said Trolio, who was born and raised a few minutes away from Mossy Oak and is a recent graduate of Oak Hill Academy in West Point.
In 2019, Trolio became the youngest player in 25 years to advance to the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst at only 17-years of age. After earning the No. 57 seed following two rounds of stroke play, Trolio rattled off four straight wins to reach the semis, only to lose to eventual champion Andy Ogletree. He did not get a chance to compete in last year’s event at Bandon Dunes after he tested positive for COVID just before the start of the tournament.
A six-time Mississippi State Junior champion, Trolio led West Point Academy to four straight state team titles and won the state individual title in 2019.