LITTLE ROCK — Peter Williamson said he had a good feeling as he watched his 25-foot birdie putt roll toward the cup on the third playoff hole Saturday in the final round of the 106th Southern Amateur Championship.
Williamson, a 22-year-old from Hanover, N.H., said he knew his aim was true.
“I’d had a putt like that earlier in the day,” Williamson said. “I knew how to line it up and just hit it a little bit harder.”
Williamson reacted with an authoritative fist pump, but had to wait out one last shot from Bobby Wyatt, the world’s top-ranked amateur player, before having his picture taken with the 3-foot tall George W. Adair Memorial trophy.
Wyatt, who started the day tied with Williamson at 7 under par, needed to chip in from the fringe to extend the playoff to a fourth hole. But Wyatt’s low-running shot missed its mark, ending a grueling, 21-hole day filled with continuous momentum swings in 97-degree heat at Chenal Country Club’s Bear Den course in Little Rock.
Williamson, a recent Dartmouth graduate who played in slacks and carried his own bag throughout the four-day event, was drained of emotion and perspective.
“It was a frantic pace,” Williamson said. “Winning a tournament this big against the No. 1 player feels good. I’ll let you know in a couple weeks when I can digest it all and get home.”
Williamson won the playoff after withstanding the charge of his playing partners, Wyatt and Daniel Berger, during a frenetic back nine.
All three players completed regulation with 5-underrounds of 67, with Wyatt and Williamson tied at 12 under and Berger, who started the day one shot behind, at 11 under.
They were a combined 10 under on the back nine, with Wyatt (5-under 31) overcoming Williamson’s four-shot lead and Berger (4-under 32) getting within a stroke.
Berger, a 19-year-old from Jupiter, Fla., nearly made it a three-man playoff when his birdie attempt from the sand on No. 18 hit the pin and rolled inches away.
“I gave myself a chance,” Berger said.
Williamson rode four consecutive birdies to reach 11 under at the turn, while Wyatt carded nine pars to remain at 7 under. Berger birdied the par-5 seventh hole to move into a tie with Wyatt with nine holes to play.
Wyatt started his charge when his second shot on No. 10, a 535-yard par 5, landed within 12 feet of the pin. He made eagle to reach 9 under, but Williamson maintained a three-shot lead when he sank his birdie putt to reach 12 under.
Wyatt said he knew he needed to clamp down on the leader.
“If I was down four or five [strokes] with four holes to go, technically I would still be in it,” Wyatt said. “But I needed to put some pressure on him early on the back nine.”
Williamson aided Wyatt’s comeback on No. 11 when he sent his drive into the trees down the left side of the fairway on the 419-yard par 4, forcing him to punch out into the thick Zoysia rough. He knocked his third shot to the green and two-putted for bogey to fall back to 11 under overall.
Wyatt overcame an errant tee shot of his own. Using a 3-wood, Wyatt drove into the trees on the right side of the fairway, but was fortunate to have a clear lie and avoided a nearby hazard area. Next, in what might have been the shot of the day, he knocked his second shot from the pine straw to 8 feet from the pin.
Wyatt sank his birdie putt to reach 10 under, and combined with Williamson’s bogey, cut the lead to one stroke.
Williamson said he figured Wyatt would close the margin.
“You can only think it’s going to be a fight to the end again,” Williamson said. “Nothing’s easy around here.”
At No. 14, a 390-yard par 4, Williamson sent his second shot from the fairway sailing over the green and watched it land at the base of a massive fan used to cool the green.
“The heat got to me there,” Williamson said. “I added the wrong way. As a Dartmouth guy, that’s a classic play. I went the wrong way on the yardage and chose the wrong club.”
Getting relief and a drop, Williamson chipped to 3 feet for an up-and-down par save, only to watch Berger pull within a stroke after making his birdie putt and Wyatt pull even at 11 under when his 10-foot birdie rolled in.
“I had a lot of the momentum,” Wyatt said. “Then I got to No. 15.”
Wyatt, from Mobile, Ala., smashed a 320-yard drive off the elevated tee and reached the green in two with an iron that landed 30 feet behind the pin on a forward-sloping green for an eagle chance.
But he failed to capitalize.
His eagle putt wasn’t struck firm enough to clear a slight rise and run on a left-to-right break toward the cup. Then his 8-foot birdie putt curled past the cup for a three-putt par.
“With those, you’ve got to have the absolute right line and speed,” said Wyatt, a junior at Alabama. “I didn’t do it.”
Williamson laid up 70 yards from the hole,then floated his third shot within 3 feet to set up a birdie and a one-stroke lead at 12 under.
Wyatt rebounded with a birdie at No. 17, a par 3 fronted by water, but his run of birdies ended after that and Williamson found his touch again.
Past champions 2011 Harris English 2010 Alex Carpenter 2009 Gregor Main 2008 Kyle Stanley 2007 Webb Simpson 2006 Kyle Stanley 2005 Webb Simpson 2004 Michael Sim 2003 Casey Wittenberg 2002 Lee Williams 2001 Cody Freeman 2000 Ryan Hybl 1999 Edward Loar 1998 Kris Maffet 1997 Ed Brooks 1996 Rob Manor 1995 Lee Eagleton 1994 Trey Sones 1993 Justin Leonard 1992 Justin Leonard 1991 Bill Brown 1990 Jason Widener 1989 Jason Widener
1988 Joe Hamorski 1987 Rob McNamara 1986 Rob McNamara 1985 Len Mattiace 1984 Scott Dunlap 1983 Pat Stephens 1982 Steve Lowery 1981 Mark Brooks 1980 Bob Tway 1979 Rafael Alarcon 1978 Jim Woodward 1977 Lindy Miller 1976 Tim Simpson 1975 Vinny Giles 1974 Danny Yates 1973 Ben Crenshaw 1972 Bill Rogers 1971 Ben Crenshaw 1970 Lanny Wadkins 1969 Hubert Green 1968 Lanny Wadkins 1967 Vinny Giles 1966 Hubert Green 1965 Billy Joe Patton 1964 Dale Morey 1963 Mike Malarkey 1962 Bunky Henry 1961 Billy Joe Patton 1960 Charles B. Smith 1959 Dick Crawford 1958 Hugh Royer, Jr.
1957 Ed Brantly1956 Arnold Blum 1955 Charlie Harrison 1954 Joe Conrad 1953 Joe Conrad 1952 Gay Brewer 1951 Arnold Blum 1950 Dale Morey 1949 Tommy Barnes 1948 Gene Dahlbender 1947 Tommy Barnes 1946 George Hamer 1942-1945 No tournament because of World War II 1941 Sam Perry 1940 Neil White 1939 Bobby Dunkelberger 1938 Carl Dann, Jr.
1937 Fred Haas 1936 Jack Munger 1935 Bobby Riegel 1934 Fred Haas 1933 Ralph Redmond 1932 Sam Perry 1931 Chasteen Harris 1930 R. E. Spicer, Jr. 1929 Sam Perry 1928 Watts Gunn 1927 Harry Ehle 1926 R. E. Spicer, Jr.
1925 Glenn Crisman 1924 Jack Wenzler 1923 Perry Adair 1922 Bobby Jones 1921 Perry Adair 1920 Bobby Jones 1919 Nelson Whitney 1918 No tournament due to World War I 1917 Bobby Jones 1916 R. G. Bush 1915 C. L. Dexter 1914 Nelson Whitney 1913 Nelson Whitney 1912 W. P. Stewart 1911 W. P. Stewart 1910 F. G. Byrd 1909 J. P. Edrington 1908 Nelson Whitney 1907 Nelson Whitney 1906 Leigh Carroll 1905 Andrew Manson 1904 Andrew Manson 1903 A. W. Gaines 1902 A. F. Schwartz
Leaderboard 106TH SOUTHERN AMATEUR Chenal Country Club Bear Den course Little Rock, par 72, 7,326 yards Final round
+Peter Williamson ..70-69-70-67-276 Bobby Wyatt ...........71-68-70-67-276 Daniel Berger ..........70-72-68-67-277 John Catlin ..............71-74-70-69-284 Talor Gooch .............76-69-69-70-284 Anthony Paolucci ....73-68-74-70-285 Motin Yeung ............69-75-72-69-285 Brad Schneider .......69-69-72-75-285 +won title on third hole of sudden-death playoff complete results, Page 11C
Sports, Pages 21 on 07/22/2012