OOLTEWAH, Tenn. – 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-bogied the first hole, then suffered
quadruple bogey 7 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.
The 109th Southern Am is
scheduled to be played at Old Waverly GC, West Point, Miss., next July.
.
------
108th
Southern Amateur, Final Leaders
The
Honors Course, Ooltewah TN; Par 72,
7,155 yards.
M.J.
Maguire, St. Pete Fla. …..............69-72-72-71—284
Geoff
Drakeford, Australia…………68-74-70-75—287
Victor
Perez, Albuquerque NM …….72-70-71-74—287
Beau Hossler, Mission Viejo
Calif. …..70-68-70-80—288
Trevor
Cone, Raleigh N.C..................68-72-70-78—288
Scott
Vincent, Blacksburg Va. ……..72-72-74-70—288
Lee
McCoy, Athens Ga.……………74-72-73-70—289
Will
Starke, Chapin S.C. …………….70-69-72-79—290
Joshua
Munn, New Zealand………..71-70-76-73—290
Jorge
Garcia, Miami Fla. ....................74-71-69-76--290
Robbie
Shelton, Wilmer Ala. ……….71-72-76-71—290