University of Oklahoma rising senior Jake Holbrook capped a dramatic back nine rally Friday with a 30-foot playoff birdie putt to capture the 119th Trans-Mississippi Championship at Brook Hollow Golf Club.
He trailed by five shots with four holes of golf left at the newly renovated layout near downtown Dallas but had birdies on Hole Nos. 15 and 17 while Ohio State rising Senior Neal Shipley suffered a disastrous triple bogey six on the par 3 17th hole.
“It didn’t look good for a long time today, but anything can happen, because it’s golf,” Holbrook said.
He finished at 68-268 total, 11-under-par. Shipley was also at 68-268. SMU senior Riley Lewis shot the low round of the final day under 100-degree heat, a 64, to finish third at 267, 10-under. John Marshall Butler and Andrew Goodman tied for fourth at 267, 9-under.
After Holbrook engineered a four-shot swing on the par 3 17th with his birdie and Shipley’s triple bogey to take the lead, he missed a 20-foot birdie putt on 18 which would have won him the prestigious amateur tournament in regulation.
Shipley then poured an 8-foot birdie putt on 18 tying the match, which sent the two golfers back to the 18th hole for a playoff.
“I hit a lot of good shots today and that birdie on 18 (in regulation) was pretty clutch,” Shipley said.
Both players found the fairway on the first playoff hole, but Holbrook, who had limited elite amateur experience and hadn’t won a tournament since the 2021 Oklahoma Stroke Play Championship, was short on his approach.
The ball spun backward, nearly rolling off the green and stopping 30 feet from the pin. Shipley was long and left, facing a 25-foot hard breaking left to right putt.
Holbrook was first to putt and knocked his putt into the hole for an unlikely birdie, giving the large crowd a double fist putt to celebrate. Shipley had a chance to extend the playoff, but his birdie putt lipped out, giving the title to Holbrook.
The 17th hole was the key turning point in today’s final round. Holbrook had birdied No. 15 and pared No. 16, but still trailed by three stepping to the 17th tee.
He put his tee ball to six feet left of the pin. Shipley was up next, and he knocked his tee ball into the large lake which fronts the 185-yard hole.
“One bad swing on that hole cost me a lot today,” he said. “This one is going to sting for a while.”
He put his third shot past the hole and then three-putted from 10 feet for a ghastly triple bogey six. Holbrook knocked in his birdie putt for the one-shot lead. He said the tee shot on that hole was the key to the comeback.
“I think I put some pressure on him (Shipley) when I hit it close. The birdie on 15 and the birdie on 17 were keys to the comeback for me.”
Holbrook and Shipley will play next week at the Southern Amateur at the Honors Course outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee, another component of the Elite Amateur Series.