William Love
SOUTHERN GOLF ASSOCIATION
In a weather-shortened 120th Southern Amateur Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club, Atlanta resident William Love triumphed to claim his first Elite Amateur Golf Series victory. The recent Duke graduate and 2022 Georgia Amateur champion shot 65-65-68 (-12) and finished three strokes ahead of Zackary Swanwick.
“It felt like a long time coming,” Love said. “I’ve been playing some really good golf and kind of just waiting on the results for a couple years now. So it’s a very nice feeling to see it pay off in a tournament as big as this.”
Pop-up storms on Thursday and Friday prompted the Southern Golf Association Executive Committee’s decision to shorten the tournament from 72 to 54 holes. Love was the 36-hole leader and played solid golf during Saturday’s final round to hold off his competitors.
“It was kind of from the start a test of patience,” Love said.
Play started on schedule on Wednesday, and for the second time in an Elite Amateur Golf Series event this year, Carson Bertagnole shot 61 in the first round to tie or break a scoring record. In the Northeast Amateur at the end of June, Bertagnole shot an 8-under 61 at Wannamoisett Country Club to tie what was then a tournament record and take the first-round lead.
Last week, Bertagnole’s 9-under 61 broke the Atlanta Athletic Club championship course record, which was previously jointly held by Steve Stricker and Mark O’Meara. He did it with one bogey and 10 birdies, which included a seven-birdie streak from Nos. 7 through 13.
At the end of the day, Bertagnole had a two-stroke lead over mid-amateur Stewart Hagestad and a four-shot lead over Love. In his first round, Love played his first three holes 1-over before birdieing the next three in a row. He played his last 15 holes 6-under and bogey-free.
Before the second round was suspended at 6:12 p.m. on Thursday, Bertagnole finished his round. He shot 2-over with a birdie, a bogey and a double bogey, which dropped him to 7-under.
At the time of the stoppage, Love was tied at the top with Bertagnole at 7-under after shooting bogey-free 2-under through 12 holes. When he returned to the course Friday morning, he closed out his bogey-free round with three more birdies to shoot his second-consecutive 65 and get to 10-under, three shots clear at the top.
Because the committee decided there would be no more play on Friday after the conclusion of the second round, the championship came down to four main contenders. It would be Carlos Astiazaran (-6) in the second-to-last group and every member of the final group: Love (-10), Bertagnole (-7) and Swanwick (-6).
On Saturday, Love’s lead was never less than two strokes. When Bertagnole and Swanwick birdied Nos. 5 and 6, so did Love. And after Love’s second bogey of the day on the eighth hole, he bounced back with a birdie on the ninth to take a three-shot lead into the turn. The rest of the way in, while his competitors made mistakes, Love played 1-under and bogey-free.
With his victory, Love earned an exemption into this year’s U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club.
RESULTS
Everett Munez
