Logan Reilly got the gallery he wanted, as friends, family, and onlookers surrounded the 16th green at Belle Haven Country Club on Friday afternoon.
He didn't disappoint them. Needing just a two-putt par to tie the hole and claim victory in the title match of the 111th Virginia State Golf Association Amateur Championship, he sank a 25-foot birdie putt and pumped his fist to stoke the crowd, reveling in his 4-and-2 victory over former George Mason standout Nikita Gubenko.
Reilly, a 17-year-old rising senior at Bishop O'Connell High School and member at Loudoun Golf & Country Club, became the third teenager in the last six years to hoist the Schwarszchild Brothers Trophy, joining Grayson Wood (2023) and Michael Brennan (2019).
Wood is set to play his sophomore season at Georgia, and Brennan just completed an illustrious career at Wake Forest. It's clear that Reilly, who is committed to national champion Auburn, is set for a similar path.
Gubenko, 22, led 2-up after 18 holes but Reilly rallied in the second half of the match. Reilly made the second of his seven second-round birdies on the par-4 5th hole, tying the match. He took the lead when he hit a 161-yard approach shot on 8 to six inches, and he never relinquished it.
Reilly sank a birdie putt on 13 to go back 2-up, and he went 3-up on 15 when he stuck his approach to three feet and converted the birdie putt. It was only fitting that he got up and down from a greenside bunker on 16 for the winning birdie putt.
With his victory, Reilly also earned an exemption into the U.S. Amateur Championship at Hazeltine. For the first time, the USGA has awarded exemptions to winners of Allied Golf Association Amateur championships.