Mike McCoy, who shot the lowest overall score at the Jupiter Invitational, won the senior division.
Jeff Haynes, USGA
In the inaugural Jupiter Invitational at Jonathan’s Landing Golf Club’s The Match course in Jupiter, Florida, Jon Weiss Jr. won the mid-amateur division in a three-way playoff on Saturday, while Mike McCoy won the senior division in convincing fashion.
In the 53-player mid-amateur division, Weiss shot 69-66-70 (5-under 205) before defeating Ryan Burgess and Jay Kirchdorfer on the fourth playoff hole. Weiss started his final round with an eagle and capped his victory with an eagle in the playoff.
“Winning is so much fun and there’s so much adrenaline involved,” Weiss said. “It’s been a little while since I won an individual stroke-play event. I’m one of those guys who enjoys meeting great people and seeing great places, so playing good golf is just a plus.”
Entering the final round, Burgess was at 7-under, two strokes ahead of Weiss, with whom he was paired in the final group. Meanwhile, at only 1-under through two rounds, it looked like Kirchdorfer was out of the tournament.
With an eagle on No. 1, Weiss briefly tied Burgess’ lead before a bogey at the second dropped him back. With nine straight pars to start, Burgess shared the lead with Joshua Rhodes at the turn.
Kirchdorfer played a bogey-free, 4-under-par front nine to climb within two of the lead before back-to-back birdies on 13 and 14 tied him at the top with Burgess.
Burgess made his first birdie of the day on No. 11 to move to 8-under before Kirchdorfer made back-to-back bogeys on the 15th and 16th holes, which seemingly crushed his chances. Suddenly, Burgess had a three-stroke lead. With pars on the last two holes, Kirchdorfer posted a 5-under target.
Burgess followed his birdie at 11 with bogeys on Nos. 12 and 15. After Weiss birdied 15, he and Burgess were tied at 6-under.
Weiss bogeyed 16 and Burgess bogeyed 17, dropping them into a tie with Kirchdorfer, and neither birdied the par-5 18th hole, setting up the playoff.
On the first playoff hole (the par-5 first), Burgess was eliminated when he made par against his fellow competitors’ birdies. Weiss and Kirchdorfer tied the next two holes which took them to the par-5 18th.
From 205 yards out, Weiss hit his 6-iron second shot to within 3 feet, setting up his tournament-clinching eagle.
In the 17-player senior division, McCoy added another victory to his decorated career. The 2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion and defending U.S. Senior Amateur champion claimed his second victory of the year after his Jones Cup Senior Invitational win in February. At Jonathan’s Landing, McCoy shot 70-68-66 (6-under 204) and finished four strokes ahead of Gordy McKeown and Shaw Pritchett.
“I would suspect that [the Jupiter Invitational] will be back next year with an even stronger field.”
Mike McCoy
“It was a really sporty test,” McCoy said. “I putted it very well today which was the key because I didn’t hit it as well as I would have liked. But I made up for it by holing big putts.”
After an even-par first round, McCoy shot 2-under in the second to open up a three-stroke lead over McKeown and Brian Quackenbush going into Saturday’s final round.
McCoy bogeyed the opening par-5 but followed it with a birdie. McKeown’s back-to-back birdies on the second and third holes cut McCoy’s lead to one stroke.
But then McCoy turned on the heat. He played his final 17 holes bogey free with five birdies. By the eighth hole, his lead was back to three strokes. Through 13, it was four.
McCoy found out about the tournament from friends who are members at the club, who called and asked if he could play. He was happy to oblige, partly because he wanted to play the Gil Hanse-designed course.
“I would guess that as the word gets out there will be more demand for the event from players,” McCoy said. “I would suspect that it will be back next year with an even stronger field.”
RESULTS
Everett Munez
