JUNO BEACH, FLORIDA | Seminole Golf Club and Mother Nature brought out the best in amateur golf at last weekend’s George L. Coleman Invitational.
Donald Ross’ course is a brute on a calm day, but when the winds started whipping off the Atlantic Ocean at more than 30 mph during Saturday’s final round, the scores went soaring and the best players walked away with the trophies.
After consecutive runner-up finishes at the Coleman, Evan Beck of Washington, D.C., finally moved up that precious last spot with a three-shot victory over Matthew McClean at 2-under 214. Mike McCoy, captain of last year’s winning U.S. Walker Cup team, won the Senior Division by four shots over R.J. Nakashian at even-par 216 after McCoy finished second last year.
But make no mistake: The biggest winner Saturday was Seminole Golf Club. It took the final group 5 hours and 40 minutes to finish because of the arduous conditions that made putting a guessing game.
“I don’t think it could have played much tougher than it did today,” Beck said.
He wasn’t kidding. The average score was 82, and no player came close to shooting par in the final round. Beck won with a closing 75, which tied for the low round of the day, and McCoy shot 78, one of only seven seniors’ sub-80 scores. The 93 players combined for only 141 birdies (about 1½ a round), and 83 of those came on the par-5s.
“Pars were fantastic, and bogeys weren’t that bad,” Beck said. “You just had to grind it out.”
No easy task on some of the most difficult greens in the world. Tournament officials had to syringe a couple of the greens during play to keep them from becoming unfair.
Beck started the final round tied for the lead with Andy Schonbaum, who won the 2022 Argentine Amateur and was runner-up at the 2019 Coleman. Beck took the lead for good when Schonbaum double-bogeyed the seventh hole, then Beck drained a 40-footer for birdie at the par-3 eighth to increase his lead to two.
Beck took care of both par-5s on Seminole’s back nine with birdies. At No. 14, he lofted a shot from a greenside bunker to 3 inches from the hole, and sprinted to the ball to mark it before it could roll away.
“Those birdies were huge to give me a little cushion coming in,” Beck said. “Every hole out here is tough, especially the last three.”
The 33-year-old Beck was due a victory after a strong 2023 season. He was second to Stewart Hagestad at last year’s U.S. Mid-Amateur and finished fourth at the Crump Cup after earning medalist honors.
“Having finished second here the last two years, I was definitely thinking about it,” Beck said. “I’m really honored and excited to finally get it done. This is my favorite week of the year.”
McClean, a Northern Irishman, led after a first-round 67, but closed with 75s to finish second. McClean won the 2022 U.S. Mid-Amateur to earn a spot in the 2023 Masters. Scott Harvey (75-218) was third, and Bobby Wyatt (77-219) placed fourth.
In the Senior Division, McCoy started the final round with a two-shot lead over Nakashian after opening with a pair of 69s. But McCoy made four bogeys in his first five holes, and the battle was on.
McCoy’s lead was two shots when he faced a difficult bunker shot at the par-3 17th. The ball nicked the pin and stopped an inch away, clinching the win.
“I can hit bunker shots,” McCoy said. “When you hang around Seminole, you’re going to learn how to hit bunker shots or you’re going to have a miserable time. You just have to hit it in the right [correct] bunker.”
McCoy won the 2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur and is a three-time mid-am champion at the Coleman (2011, 2013, 2015), joining Tim Jackson as the only players to have won both divisions at Seminole’s premier event. McCoy said he struggled with his game after taking on the Walker Cup captain duties.
“I was more worried about their games than my game,” McCoy said. “I’ve been working at it this winter, trying to find my game again. It’s nice to win both divisions.”
Nakashian might do well to play in next year’s Coleman, based on how Beck and McCoy each improved a spot this year. Nakashian was third last year and second on Saturday.
“I putted so well the first two rounds, but couldn’t make one today,” Nakashian said. “It was hard to stand still over the putts.”
Welcome to Seminole on a windy day.
SCORING
Craig Dolch