JUPITER, FLORIDA | For the second year in a row, the National Senior-Junior Championship belonged to a team from the Old Dominion.
Virginia’s Matt Sughrue and Justin Young broke through a congested leaderboard, shooting a final-round 72 during a blustery alternate-shot session at the Dye Preserve this past Wednesday. Sughrue and Young started the third and final day two strokes behind Charlie Harrison and Roger Hoit, but a steady performance that included three birdies and three bogeys – two of those bogeys coming on the last two holes – saw them come away with a three-stroke victory at 9-under 209.
The Senior-Junior consists of mid-amateurs teaming with a senior amateur to play better ball, Pinehurst and alternate shot formats across 54 holes. Players sped around the course quickly during the alternate shot as heavy rain waited just long enough to allow the field to finish.
Before it came, the wind made the unforgiving format even harder.
“Justin said before the round, ‘I hope we’re still friends after this,’ ” Sughrue said. “And it worked out just fine. We were frankly a little surprised that we won, and to win by three (strokes). We didn’t quite understand how difficult it was playing for the field.”
While Sughrue and Young were driving the ball accurately and making multiple timely par-saving putts within 10 feet, others crumbled.
Hoit and Harrison doubled the par-5 first hole. Although they made two birdies to retake the lead by the turn, they then went double bogey-bogey on Nos. 11 and 12 in the way to a 77 and a co-runner-up finish. Past champions Mike McCoy and John Engler were favorites heading into the day but made only one birdie during a disappointing 78. Bryan Norton and Park Ulrich gave themselves a chance down the stretch after a birdie on No. 13, but two late bogeys sent them back to 4-under 212 in a tie with Hoit and Harrison.
Sughrue, 63, is well-established in the senior ranks. He finished runner-up in the Crump Cup and won the C.B. MacDonald Invitational a year ago, adding to a lengthy résumé that also includes earning runner-up honors in the 2015 British Senior Amateur and 2016 U.S. Senior Amateur. Sughrue sold his insurance business in 2013 and became a psychotherapist after going to graduate school at Virginia Tech and completing a 3½-year internship.
Young, 44, has not competed as much on a national stage but won the 2017 Virginia Mid-Am and 2015 State Open of Virginia. Sughrue and Young partnered last year in the Senior-Junior for the first time but had previous team experience from recent Captain’s Putter matches between top players from the Carolinas and Virginias.
Last year, the Virginian team of Evan Beck and Jon Hurst took the Senior-Junior title to start a year in which Beck won the Virginia Mid-Amateur and State Open of Virginia while Hurst won the Virginia Senior Stroke Play Championship. Young is hoping for a similar result after finally breaking through for a win.
“We were sitting at lunch and I looked at Matt and said, ‘I’ve been in this spot so many times,’ ” Young said. “Someone is going to chip in on 18 and we’re going to lose by one. I know it. Then our friends came up and told us the good news and we’re like, ‘You’re kidding?’ We were shocked … It’s very gratifying. Anytime you can beat the Gene Elliotts and Nathan Smiths of the world, it means a lot.”
Sean Fairholm
Australians Harrison Crowe and Jeneath Wong captured respective titles on Thursday in the Australian Master of the Amateurs at Victoria Golf Club.
Crowe, who came into the week ranked No. 228 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, made a birdie on his final hole to finish at 6-under 282 in a one-stroke victory over Konrad Ciupek and Andre Lautee. Crowe had struggled with a double bogey on No. 15 and a bogey on No. 16, but he took care of the par-5 18th to save victory.
Wong, ranked No. 113 in the world, easily won with a 4-under 284 total. Although her lead was cut to three strokes midway through the final round, Wong made three birdies in her final five holes to win by seven strokes.
Staff and Wire Reports