McCartin In Finals At Virginia State Amatuer
7/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
July 2, 2006
HOT SPRINGS, Va. -- It's a 20-something final at the State Am.
Wake Forest junior Chris McCartin, 20, Adam Horton, 22, scored a pair of victories in quarterfinal and semifinal round action and will meet in Sunday's 36-hole final at the 93rd Virginia State Golf Association Amateur Championship at The Homestead's Cascades Course (6,613 yards, par 35-35--70).
McCartin, a rising junior at Wake Forest University, notched a 2 and 1 win over '05 State Am runner-up Jason Pool (Dunn Loring) in the quarters, before ending Jordan Utley's (Richmond) run through the championship with a 5 and 4 semifinals victory. Horton, meanwhile, posted a 19-hole win over Northern Virginian Christopher Reeves (Alexandria) before beating Roger Newsom of Virginia Beach, 6 and 5 in the afternoon session.
Heading into the week, McCartin hadn't won a match in his previous two State Am appearances, but has played like a veteran in the format. He opened up an all-square match against Pool by birdieing Nos. 16 and 17 in the morning to set up the matchup against Utley, a rising junior at the University of Richmond.
In a hard-fought match versus 1992 State Am winner Allen Barber of Yorktown, Utley built a 2-up advantage with four to play after birdieing the par-4 14th hole from 12 feet for a third straight match and a fourth time this week. But Barber drained a left-to-right breaking 25-footer for birdie at the par-3 15th, where he holed the shot using a putter from the primary rough. He then knocked in a 45-footer for eagle at the par-5 17th to square the match.
Utley had the final answer, striking a brilliant 5-iron shot at the uphill par-3 18th to 15 feet behind the hole and two-putted to win the match, 1 up, after Barber's 7-foot comebacker for par slid by the left edge.
In the afternoon, McCartin built a 2-up advantage after six holes, before a pivotal point in the match came at the par-4 seventh. There, Utley hit his iron approach to 15 feet short of the hole and appeared ready to cut into his opponent's lead after McCartin missed the green long and chipped to 20 feet short of the hole. McCartin's par attempt traced all the way to the cup and dropped right in the center, while Utley's birdie attempt hung on the lip.
"That was big because it kept me 2 up," McCartin said.
He used the momentum to win the next three holes with pars and built a 5-up lead after 10, a stretch that was instrumental in deciding the match. "It seemed like it got to [Utley] a little bit and could have been `game over.' It was fairways and greens from there."
Said Utley: "I'm looking at trying to get a little momentum going and he makes his and I miss mine. That had to be the turning point."
McCartin, the 2002 VSGA Junior Match Play champion, possesses plenty of power, but has worked to improve around the greens and developed into a player seemingly capable of executing any shot to keep his opponent at bay in match play.
"If you're hitting the ball great, but not making any putts, it gives your opponent a real comfort level," said McCartin, who made bunker saves at the par-4 12th and 13th holes to retain his 5-up lead. "When you get up and down, it's more of a surprise and takes a little more out of your opponent - he thinks he's won the hole. Psychologically, it's almost a better thing" to make saves in match play.
Horton, who graduated from Methodist College [Fayetteville, N.C.] in December, survived a tough morning match against Reeves. He birdied the par-5 17th hole to square things and blasted a bunker shot at No. 18 to 1 foot to continue the match.
Then the real drama ensued. At the first extra hole, the par-4 first, Reeves' approach flew the green and he hit a short pitch shot that was impossible to stop and scurried 65 feet below the hole. His long-distance par attempt hit the back of the cup, popped up and refused to fall. Horton's birdie try horseshoed out, but he made the tap-in to advance.
He then scored a wire-to-wire victory against fellow Elizabeth Manor Golf and Country Club member Newsom, winning three of the first five holes and had a 5-up advantage at the turn. Improved iron play has stoked Horton to the finals.
"I hadn't been playing much and didn't know how well I was hitting the ball. I got a lesson right before I left school from the women's coach [at Methodist College] that helped me figure out my irons and ever since I got here, my irons have been on-point," said Horton, whose previous best showing was a trip to the quarterfinals in 2004 at Roanoke Country Club.
Counting the usual concessions that are a part of match play, Horton was two under in the afternoon. Like Utley, Newsom had a draining morning match. The ophthalmologist defeated the top-ranked amateur in the commonwealth, Keith Decker of Martinsville, in 22 holes.
Newsom was 3 down with six to play against Decker but, with a little help from his opponent, wiped out the deficit and continued the match. He ended an exhausting match on the fourth extra hole, the par-3 fourth, hitting a shot to 20 feet below the hole, while Decker's shot flew the green. Decker's shot hit a downslope and his approach was blocked by a cluster of trees, where he had to punch out to heavy rough just to have a play at the green. Newsom two putted to decide a long and grueling match, but he admittedly had little in reserve for another round.
"I think I was working so hard against Keith that I kind of had a letdown," Newsom said. "That's not to take anything away from Adam, who played great."
Horton estimated that he played one hole with McCartin for an alternate spot in U.S. Amateur sectional qualifying a few years ago.
"It didn't mean much at that time. We were probably the 50th [guys] in the country in line for the spot," said Horton, who says has never played in 36 holes in match play.
Sunday's encounter will be for a place in State Am history. One thing is for certain: the youth movement is well underway at the championship. No matter who triumphs, it will signal the fifth straight year that a 20-something has taken home the Schwarzschild Brothers' Trophy, going to the victor. Repeats winner Billy Hurley of Leesburg (2004 and 2005) and Powhatan's Jay Woodson (2002 and 2003) were each in their early 20s when they won.
The 36-hole final on Sunday is set to begin at 8 a.m.
Players Mentioned
