LITTLE ROCK — Zachary Coats had a relatively uneventful round with two birdies and one bogey Monday to qualify for this week’s Southern Amateur Championship. It didn’t go quite as smoothly for the final two qualifiers.
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Coats, an 18-year-old from Springdale, shot 1-under-par 71 at Chenal Country Club’s Bear Den course to share medalist honors with Brandon Wilhide of Richmond, Texas, at the qualifier for the major amateur event in Little Rock.
Four players shot 73, which forced a playoff for the remaining two qualifying spots. Facing sudden-death elimination on the 535-yard, par-5 10th, Michael McGee and Kevin Gillick both made birdie to eliminate Sam Love and Marshall Talkington.
Gillick, a 21-year-old from Lincoln, Neb., said he and McGee, a 21-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., have known each other for several years through playing the same junior and collegiate tournaments. The two played a practice round together Sunday and talked about what score it might take to reach the championship.
Turns out they were right on the number.
“You’ve got to position yourself well off the tee,” Gillick said. “That’s what I tried to do in the playoff.”
Gillick put himself in the fairway on the playoff hole, and his approach to the front left part of the green gave him an opportunity to lag a lengthy putt within 3 feet for a birdie.
“If you’re mis-hitting it ... it’s going to be a brutal golf course,” he said.
McGee took a more risky approach in the playoff. After a tee shot to the right side of the fairway, McGee cut a 3-wood aimed right at the pin. The ball landed short and in a green side bunker, but he was able to blast out to within about 6 feet and convert the birdie putt.
“That was kind of a bold 3-wood around the trees,” McGee said. “I had to be aggressive but I knew it paid off.”
Love’s approach flew just a little too far past the pin, and he missed his birdie putt of about 10 feet coming back. Talkington made bogey.
McGee and Gillick got off to very different starts in regulation. McGee was 3 under through five, while Gillick was 3 over through three.
“I wasn’t really sure what it was going to take out here today,” McGee said. “But itseemed like every time it got iffy I seemed to come back with a birdie.”
Gillick, who attributed his poor start to errant tee shots, said a birdie on the 478-yard, par-4 ninth helped him rally into contention.
“I knew a lot of guys weren’t going to do that,” Gillick said.
Gillick made a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 10 before dropping a shot at the par-4 14th. His approach into the par-515th settled about 2 feet from the hole, giving him a birdie that put him back on pace for a qualifying spot.
But by that point, Coats and Wilhide had a good grasp on the top spots on the leaderboard.
Coats, a three-time all-state player at Springdale Har-Ber who has committed to Arkansas, had no bogeys on the back nine and his birdie on No. 15 helped him secure his qualifying spot.
“Out here you have to keep it in play,” Coats said, “making it as easy on yourself as you can.”
He said the top finish also gave him some additional confidence heading into the tournament’s first round Wednesday.
“I feel pretty good about it,” said Coats, who left the course before the playoff started. “The whole thing with the first round is getting off to a good start somewhere around par.”
106TH SOUTHERN AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP First-round tee times Chenal Country Club, Little Rock, Bear Den course, 7,326-yards, par 72
NO. 1
7:30 a.m. Joe Doramus, Little Rock; Joe Atkisson. Springfield, Mo.; H. Kraus, Germantown, Tenn.
7:40 a.m. William Peel IV, Potomac, Md.; Michael McGee, Kansas City, Mo.; Eduardo Chavez, Hillsborough, Calif.
7:50 a.m. Wil Clowdus, Opelika, Ala.; Alexandre de Gunzburg, Palm Beach, Fla.; Greg Polledri, Southlake, Texas 8:00 a.m. Kevin Jorden, Juno Beach, Fla.; Roman Robledo, Harlingen, Texas; Davin White, Locust Grove, Ga 8:10 a.m. Will Kropp, Edmond, Okla.; Anthony Murdaca, Adalaide, Australia; Daniel Nisbet, Caboolture, Australia 8:20 a.m. Tain Lee, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.; Nicholas Reach, Moscow, Pa.; Daniel Berger, Jupiter, Fla.
8:30 a.m. Derek Ernst, Clovis, Calif.; Peter Williamson, Hanover, N.H.; David Erdy, Boonville, Ind.
8:40 a.m. Paul Simson, Raleigh, N.C.; Alex Carpenter, Little Rock; Tucker Wadkins, Dallas 8:50 a.m. Anthony Paolucci, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; Cheng Tsung Pan, Taiwan; Bobby Wyatt, Mobile, Ala.
9:00 a.m. Andrew Morgan, Long Beach, Calif.; Bobby Hudson, Memphis; Matthew Perry, Hamilton, New Zealand 9:10 a.m. Conner Pratt, Birmingham, Ala.; Kevin Brady, Brandon, Miss.; Yi-Hsiu Luo, Taiwan 9:20 a.m. Andrew Lawson, Dallas; Bobby Baker, Little Rock; Eddie Brescher III, Jackson, Miss.
9:30 a.m. Victor Monte, Milledgeville, Ga.; Paul Sansom Jr., Russellville, Ky.; John Darden, Frisco, Texas 9:40 a.m. Jeremy Freedman, Dallas; Matt Ceravolo, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; Taylor Riggs, Lagrange, Ky.
12:30 p.m. Alex Simmons, Lenoir, N.C. Patrick Newcomb, Benton, Ky.; Nick Wilson, Little Rock 12:40 p.m. Cameron Hollek Richmond, Texas; Kyle Cobb, Tallahassee, Fla.; Robert Mize, Fortson, Ga.
12:50 p.m. Grant Blevins, Danville, Ky.; John Jonas, Jacksonville, Fla.; Colin St. Maxens, Washington, D.C.
1:00 p.m. Will Bishop, Lexington, Ky.; Caleb Sturgeon, Laurens, S.C.; Lucas Armstrong, Church Hill, Tenn.
1:10 p.m. Juan Cerda Santiago, Chile; Smylie Kaufman, Vestavia Hills, Ala.; Ian Vandersee, West Des Moines, Iowa 1:20 p.m. Michael Johnson, Birmingham, Ala.; John Catlin, Gold River, Calif.; Abraham Ancer, Norman, Okla.
1:30 p.m. Steven Fox, Hendersonville, Tenn.; Carlos Rodriguez, Cali, Columbia; Anders Albertson, Woodstock, Ga.
1:40 p.m. Michael Hebert, Auburn, Ala.; Jade Scott, Daingerfield, Texas; Joey Nichols, Little Rock 1:50 p.m. Alex Moon, Dallas; Joseph Winslow, Overland Park, Kan.; Keith Mitchell, Chattanooga, Tenn.
2:00 p.m. Charlie Bull, Wentworth, England; Richard Lamb, South Bend, Ind.; Shawn Reynolds, Little Rock 2:10 p.m. Tyler Gruca, Alpharetta, Ga.; Kelly McHugh, Lakeland, Fla.; Curtis Reed, Castroville, Texas 2:20 p.m. Daniel Walker, Earlysville, Va.; Kevin Gillick, Lincoln, Neb.; Hunter Howell, Raeford, N.C.
2:30 p.m. Fletcher Johnson, Belden, Miss.; Myles Lewis, New Orleans; Tyler Gann, Tomball, Texas 2:40 p.m. Franco Castro, Alpharetta, Ga.; Barrett Edens, Okolona, Miss.; Ryan O’Rear, Belton, Texas
NO. 10
7:30 a.m. Matthew Mabrey, Little Rock; Mitchell McLeroy, Mansfield, Texas; Grant Milner, Memphis 7:40 a.m. Rowdy Garrett, Fouke; Paul McConnell, Garland, Texas; Craig Russell, Orlando, Fla 7:50 a.m. Blanton Farmer, Lexington, Ky.; Korey Smith, Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Spencer Cole, Greer, S.C.
8:00 a.m. Davis Bunn, Knoxville, Tenn.; Mills Rendell, Winnetka, Ill.; Stuart Chase Smallwood, Paris, Texas 8:10 a.m. Clay Homan, Starkville, Miss.; Jake McLeod, Queensland, Australia; Blake Kelley, Mandeville, La.
8:20 a.m. Pace Johnson, Fresno, Calif.; Talor Gooch, Oklahoma City, Okla.; Michael Weaver, Fresno, Calif.
8:30 a.m. Dimi Papadatos, Australia; Oliver Schniederjans, Powder Springs, Ga.; Jay Vandeventer, Bristol, Tenn.
8:40 a.m. Mario Clemens, Los Angeles; Sam Fidone, Lufkin, Texas; David Mills, Evansville, Ind.
8:50 a.m. Anton Arboleda, La Canada, Calif.; Lee Knox, Augusta, Ga.; Daniel Pearce, South Island, New Zealand 9:00 a.m. Sam Smith, Turlock, Calif.; James Erkenbeck, San Diego; Rafael Becker, Brazil 9:10 a.m. Paul Harris, Oneonta, Ala.; Patrick Barrett, Pinehurst, N.C.; Mick Huffman, Maurice, La.
9:20 a.m. Will Murphy, Columbia, S.C.; Zachary Coats, Springdale; Charlie Saxon, Tulsa, Okla.
9:30 a.m. Patrick Garrett, Powder Springs, Ga.; Drew Evans, Dallas; Ryan Thornton, Chattanooga, Tenn.
9:40 a.m. Will Nixon, Jefferson City, Mo.; Reeves Zaytoun, Raleigh, N.C.; Nathan Anderson, Burleson, Texas 12:30 p.m. Joel Dahlenburg, St. Augustine, Fla.; Landon Hearnes, Mayflower; Cory Gaylord, Collierville, Tenn.
12:40 p.m. Bernard Thibeaux III, Lafayette, La.; Kyle Endicott, Powell, Ohio; Travis Benson, Herndon, Va.
12:50 p.m. Dalton Skinner, Birmingham, Ala.; Conley Hurst, Little Rock; Davis Womble, High Point, N.C.
1:00 p.m. Drew Czuchry, Auburn, Ga.; Jordan Jennings, Jefferson, Tenn.; Landon Lyons, Baton Rouge 1:10 p.m. Motin Yeung, Orlando, Fla.; Logan McCracken, Oklahoma City; Trey Mullinax, Mount Olive, Ala.
1:20 p.m. Gavin Green, Selangor, Malaysia; Brad Schneider, Valrico, Fla.; Will Pearson, Memphis 1:30 p.m. Johnathan Schnitzer, Houston; Fraser Wilkin, Auckland, New Zealand; Austin Cook, Jonesboro 1:40 p.m. Jake Greer, Birmingham, Ala.; Kolton Crawford, Mansfield, Texas; Zachary Olsen, Cordova, Tenn.
1:50 p.m. Tom Lovelady, Birmingham, Ala.; Dykes Harbin, Augusta, Ga.; Brandon Wilhide, Richmond, Texas 2:00 p.m. Thomas Birdsey, Trophy Club, Texas; Robert De Biase, Lara, Venezuela; Peyton Vitter, New Orleans 2:10 p.m. Michael Garretson Acworth, Ga.; Luke Kwon, Carrollton, Texas; Forrest Gamble, Birmingham, Ala.
2:20 p.m. Winston Sizemore, Pine Bluff; James Kwon, Houston; Chris Duncan, Ruston, La.
2:30 p.m. Matt Mierzejewski, Suwanee, Ga.; Wilson McDonald, Mobile, Ala.; David Buchheit, Bryan, Texas 2:40 p.m. Matthew Seligmann, Houston; Michael Collie, Collierville, Tenn.; Tim Hardham, Little Rock
Sports, Pages 18 on 07/17/2012