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SEA ISLAND, GEORGIA | If one moment could perfectly describe Davis Thompson’s week at the Jones Cup Invitational, it occurred on the first hole of Sunday’s final round at Ocean Forest Golf Club.
Thompson (above), starting the day with a two-stroke lead, stepped to the tee with an iron on the dangerously narrow par-4 opener and hit a pull that appeared destined to find a pond left of the fairway.
“That ball definitely should have gone in the water,” Thompson said after the round. “But the wind just held it up enough.”
A few minutes later, the University of Georgia junior hit a short-iron dagger to 5 feet and made birdie to extend a lead that grew much larger during a virtuoso, bogey-free 7-under-par round of 65. Thompson ultimately won by nine strokes, and his 13-under 203 total was the lowest score in Jones Cup history, beating the previous mark of 10 under that Luke List and Gary Woodland reached in 2007.
He also shattered the mark for largest margin of victory. Thompson’s nine-stroke triumph ahead of David Perkins of Illinois State University easily bested Beau Hossler’s six-stroke victory in 2016. The 65 Thompson shot in the final round tied the lowest single-round score in tournament history, matching Woodland and Colt Knost in 2007.
Thompson, who resides in St. Simons Island adjacent to Sea Island, had lost in a playoff to Akshay Bhatia in last year’s tournament. When Bhatia decided to turn pro last fall, Thompson inherited the winner’s exemption into the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic at Sea Island in November – and took full advantage of the opportunity, finishing in a tie for 23rd.
Thompson will be headed back to the PGA Tour event again in 2020 but under far different circumstances. Thompson simply overwhelmed Ocean Forest with his exceptional length off the tee and sublime iron play, one of the few times in tournament history when the difficult layout wasn’t humbling players.
“It was just one of those days where I was on and I never really let off the gas pedal,” Thompson said. “I used last year as motivation and it was luckily a day where everything came together.”
The final margin belies how close the leaderboard became during the first two days of play. Thompson battled the wind and rain in the first round to finish with 70, a couple of strokes back of Rutgers University standout Chris Gotterup. In fairly benign conditions on the second day, Thompson posted a 68 that included just one bogey, giving him a two-stroke lead.
The bunched pack behind Thompson quickly faded into the distance on Sunday. Thompson made a key par save out of a downhill lie in a greenside bunker on No. 4 – he had bogeyed the hole the first two days – and then hit his stride with five consecutive birdies starting on No. 7. Despite carrying a five-stroke lead into the final nine holes, Thompson blasted a driver over the corner at the par-5 10th and had a mid-iron for his second shot.
Nobody had a prayer of catching him.
“It means a lot to be a champion here,” Thompson said. “This golf course is tough. You can’t relax mentally out here. You have to be focused every single shot. My game is in really good shape, so I’m just excited to get the spring season going.”
Thompson entered the week as the No. 9 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and likely will move up after Wednesday’s update.
RESULTS
Sean Fairholm