NAPLES, FLORIDA | Caleb Surratt is still a few months away from starting his college golf career, but he’s already the back-to-back champion of a prestigious amateur event.
Surratt, the 18-year-old who will soon be a freshman at the University of Tennessee, went wire-to-wire for the second consecutive year, capturing the Terra Cotta Invitational by seven strokes on Sunday afternoon at a muggy Naples National Golf Club. He tied the tournament scoring record of 14-under 202 set by Jorge Garcia in 2015, and Surratt is the first player to win the Terra Cotta twice since the event switched from match play to stroke play in 2006. He’s the first to successfully defend a Terra Cotta title in the event’s 26-year history.
That’s extra meaningful considering the list of players who have won includes Matt Kuchar, Peter Uihlein, Bud Cauley, Justin Thomas, Emiliano Grillo and Davis Riley.
“It’s super cool,” Surratt told Global Golf Post. “I think my good golf can compete with anyone, and I think it will for a long time.”
A year ago, Surratt was the only player to shoot under par as a firm-and-fast Naples National provided a stern test. The result of that tournament was in doubt down the stretch, but there would be no such concern this time around. Surratt opened with a 5-under 67 on a day with a particularly tough set of hole locations, putting him one stroke ahead, and then he maintained that one-stroke advantage with another 67 on Saturday.
“It’s super cool. I think my good golf can compete with anyone and I think it will for a long time.”
Caleb Surratt
There was potential for a two-man race in the final round between Surratt and Nicholas Prieto, a University of South Florida commit from Miami, but Prieto made a double bogey on No. 2 and never looked comfortable in a closing 3-over 75. Surratt, meanwhile, continued to push forward with birdies on Nos. 1, 2 and 11. Nobody could come remotely close throughout the day, although highly touted University of Virginia commit Ben James impressed with a 5-under 67 to claim solo second.
Naples National endured 2 inches of rain on Friday night and played softer than usual, allowing 11 players to finish under par on the difficult layout that takes pride in its undulating greens. Surratt didn’t see a major difference in the course, however, and believes much of the low scoring comes from the quality of the players.
“I think everyone is just getting really good,” Surratt said. “I don’t think the course was necessarily easier. The rain definitely helped, but I just think that junior golf has taken over and a bunch of these college kids are getting really good.”
Surratt has been a menace in junior golf over the past year, consistently posting top finishes. Since winning last year’s Terra Cotta, Surratt won the Junior PGA Championship, the Bobby Chapman Invitational and the well-regarded Junior Invitational at Sage Valley. Nearly every other result has been a top-10 finish. He also made it to the round of 32 in the U.S. Amateur last summer and earned a top-20 result in the Jones Cup earlier this year. He was outside the top 1,000 of the WAGR when he won the 2021 Terra Cotta, and he is now inside the top 100.
“Moving up in the rankings doesn’t change my belief, but I’m trying to qualify for the U.S. Am,” Surratt said, noting that he needs to be in the top 50 to automatically qualify. “This win helps.”
There is no doubting that Surratt has confidence. He walks and talks like a professional.
“I didn’t feel much pressure, honestly,” Surratt said. “I had a long talk with myself before I even went out today. I committed myself to disconnect from the results. There was no standing on the first tee thinking, ‘I hope I don’t lose it.’ I had to free myself up and that is what I did. I honestly didn’t get nervous at all.”
Based on how he played, you have to believe him.
RESULTS
Sean Fairholm
England’s John Gough shook off three consecutive bogeys on the back nine Sunday to rally for a one-stroke victory in the 56th Lytham Trophy at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in England.
Gough, who was tied with Ireland’s Eoin Murphy for the 54-hole lead at even-par 210, had surged in front on the strength of a 3-under round through 12 holes at the seaside links. Gough stumbled with bogeys at Nos. 14, 15 and 16 before a chip-in birdie at the par-4 17th proved to be the difference.
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget that shot,” he said later, after a par at the last had confirmed victory.
Gough closed with even-par 70 for a 280 total and one-stroke victory over 15-year-old Scot Connor Graham, who had set the clubhouse target earlier on the strength of a closing 69.
Gough, who played college golf at UNC Charlotte, won the recent Spanish Amateur after claiming the English Amateur and Palmetto Amateur titles last year.
How does this triumph compare to those others in the last 12 months?
“Oh, this one is special because I always used to play the Fairhaven event,” Gough said, referencing a junior tournament being held simultaneously at nearby Fairhaven Golf Club, “and we always looked up to Lytham Trophy players. We’d wander out to watch them and always thought they were a different class. I’ve never got to play here until this week because I was always in America, at college.”
And now that he has experienced it, what did he make of this famous test with its menacing fairway bunkers?
“I always knew it was hard and that it was mentally draining,” he said, before adding with a relieved laugh: “But perhaps 36 holes in a day is my limit.”
Matt Cooper
Gretchen Johnson of Portland, Oregon, shot 2-over 218 to win the Ladies National Golf Association Mid-Am at Tubac (Arizona) Golf Resort on Thursday.
Johnson defeated runner-up Amanda Jacobs by eight strokes. She posted the only under-par score of the tournament in the second round, shooting a 3-under 69.
In the senior division, Shelly Haywood of Huntington Beach, California, shot 3-over 219 to win by five strokes over Robin Krapfl. Haywood closed with an even-par 72, tied for the low score of the tournament.
Staff and Wire Reports