1st U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship
Final Recap
By Paul Kenyon
SEEKONK _ Brad Valois and Bobby Leopold already have their first golf assignment for next year, and it is a special one.
The two players who have competed against each other often over the last several years for titles in the Rhode Island Golf Association, joined forced on Monday. They played well enough as a team to earn a spot in the first-ever USGA Four-Ball Championship.
Leopold and Valois combined to shoot a 5-under 66 at Ledgemont, then survived a three-team playoff for the last two spots, to earn one of three available berths in the national championship to be held next spring at the famed Olympic Club in San Francisco.
Because of event will be held early in the season, the USGA is holding many of the qualifying events around the country this fall, when the weather is better.
Valois and Leopold were not particularly happy when the finished play, even after Valois hit his approach on the par-4 18th within two feet and made the putt for his fifth bird of the day.
``We didn’t play very well,’’ Valois said.
``I didn’t have my best game,’’ Leopold said.
The two were among the early starters. One team, former US Mid-Amateur champion Austin Eaton III and his partner, Roger Hoit, already had posted a bogey-free 64. Another team, Massachusetts standouts Kevin Silva and Ryan Riley, had just made the turn in 5-under 31. What’s more, eight other teams were under-par on the front side, so the picture did not look bright for Valois
However, the wind got stronger as the afternoon went on, making conditions considerably more difficult. The fact that the back is the tougher nine also contributed. As it was, the 66 stood up for Valois and Leopold for more than two hours.
Riley and Silva were even on the back to come in at 66 and tie them. The Metacomet team of Jay Barrow and Chris Chartier, playing in one of the final groups when conditions were the most demanding, posted a bogey-free 66 to force the playoff.
On the first playoff hole, the downhill par-4 17th, Chartier and Barrow had the best chance. Both his terrific second shots to within five feet, but both missed their birdied putts. As it was, all six players parred.
On the par-4 18th, coming back up the hill Silva, a former pro who regained his amateur status two years ago, hit his approach within three feet and birdied, clinching a spot for him and Riley. Chartier drove into the trees and bogeyed. Barrow missed the green left and chipped to seven feet. His putt for the par slid left. Leopold and Valois were both within three feet for their par. Leopold made the putt giving his team a berth at The Olympic Club.
The medalists included a former RIGA regular. Eaton played out of Pawtucket for several years before moving to Minnesota a year ago. He returned and combined with his partner Hoit, a member at Baltusrol in New Jersey, to post seven birdies on the day and earn the medal.
The inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball is scheduled for April 30-May 6 on next year. It will use both courses (Lake and Ocean) at The Olympic Club. Qualifying will be 36-hole stroke-play. The club’s famed Lake Course will host the championship’s match-play bracket. It will be the 10th USGA championship hosted by the club. Five U.S. Opens have been contested on the club’s Lake Course, including Jack Fleck’s three-stroke playoff victory over Ben Hogan in 1955 and Billy Casper’s four-stroke playoff win over Arnold Palmer in 1966.
There will be local representation in the first USGA Women’s Four-Ball, as well. Wannamoisett’s Angel Macleod combined with her partner, Cheryl Popp of Westford, Mass., to record a 71 and earn medalist honors in qualifying last week at the Spring Hill Country Club in Sharon, Mass. Their score led the field by three shots.
The women’s event will be held next spring at Bandon Dunes in Oregon.