Victory all sized up
Cal-Berkeley product Morikawa claims Northeast Amateur by two shots
Ben Tuthill, Northeast Amateur Tournament Chairman, presents the winners’ jacket to Northeast Amateur champion Collin Morikawa during Saturday’s trophy presentation. Looking on, at left, is Mike Burke. Morikawa fired an 11-under par at Wannamoisett CC to capture the 56th edition of the annual tournament.
EAST PROVIDENCE — Like almost all of the other linksters playing the plush Wannamoisett Country Club layout on Saturday, Cal-Berkeley senior-to-be Collin Morikawa had to wait two hours and 40 minutes to tee it up for the final round of the 56th annual Northeast Amateur Invitational Tournament.
Director of Rules and Competition Bob Ward chose to delay the proceedings due to the heavy rains hitting the area early Saturday morning.
“We had a plan in play at 6:30 a.m.; we had two groups of three tee off on the first and 10th (holes) at 8:30, but then we saw the Doppler radar and decided to sound the horn and bring them back in,” he noted. “It was about to come back in buckets.”
The long postponement nevertheless failed to hamper Morikawa, who admittedly didn’t produce his finest golf, but his one-over-par 70 did prove good enough to seal the championship with a fine, 11-under, 72-hole total of 265.
With it, he not only tied two others for the third-best aggregate score in tournament history, but also earned the prestigious tournament blue blazer and crystal trophy. (In 2011, Peter Uihlein shot a cumulative 261 to win it, and James White came in three shots back the same year. The Golden Bear knotted Dan Wollman and Blayne Barner for the third spot).
Still, it didn’t come easy, as San Jose, Calif. resident and UNLV product Shintaro Ban fired a phenomenal, seven-under 62 and tied for runner-up honors with Greenwich, Conn.’s Theo Humphrey, who’ll be a senior at Vanderbilt in August. He notched one-under 68 on Saturday, and both closed at nine-under 267 – two shots
behind the newest champion.
Morikawa’s buddy, Doug Ghim of Arlington Heights, Ill. and a Texas senior, managed a three-over 72 to stand alone in fourth (268), while Sam Burns of Shreveport, La. rallied for a four-under 65 for fifth (fiveunder 271).
“To play in a prestigious event like this and to win it, it’s fantastic,” Morikawa gushed after signing his final card. “Everyone I know who’s invited here can’t wait to play it; it’s only a par69, but it’s so difficult. To be a part of this tournament’s history, it’s amazing.
“I missed five of the first six greens; I knew right away it wasn’t going to be an easy day,” despite rolling in a birdie putt on his opening hole, the first, he added. “It seemed I had to make up-and-downs to save par all day … It’s always good to have a win under your belt, and to get it here is just fantastic.”
Morikawa, who began his 18 at 12-under, played with Ghim (a shot back) and Humphrey (three behind) in the final threesome, and the former bogeyed the fifth, then birdied the seventh before suffering a bogey four at No. 8.
Humphrey and Morikawa both made the turn at par 34, while Ghim struggled to 36.
On the par-four 13th, however, Humphrey slid in a 30-foot birdie try and Ghim an eight-footer for the same, so Morikawa’s previous two-shot cushion faded to one. He was still at 12-under, while Ghim climbed to 11-under and Humphrey minus-10.
Ghim saved par on the dogleg-right 14th, though Humphrey pushed a nine-foot par putt to fall back to nine-under while the eventual victor parred. The key to the triumph came on the 196-yard 15th, when Morikawa parred and Ghim and Humphrey bogeyed to fall another shot back.
All three got into trouble with their tee shots on the 16th, and only Humphrey saved par, courtesy of a miraculous low screamer under some right-side trees, with a two-putt. At that point, though, Morikawa still had a two-shot advantage over Ghim.
Humphrey nearly drained a chip for eagle on the par-five 17th and birdied, but it was too little too late. Ghim collected his second bogey in three holes on the 18th, and that cost him a three-way tie for second.
Ban, on the other hand, fired the only 29 of the event (on either nine), thanks to five birdies on the front, then claimed two more on holes 17 and 18 for his bogey-free 62.
“It may have looked like Collin was in trouble, but he was easy-going all day,” stated his caddy, Zach Bright, who happens to be an assistant pro at Wannamoisett. “There were a few shots that didn’t work for him, but he pulled it all back together on the back. On the 16th, he came in short of the (left-side) bunker with his tee shot but got it up and down, and he had a terrible chip on the 17th from pin-high but saved par.
“I knew he was going to win it, even when the two other guys cut (the lead) to one and two,” he continued. “He didn’t have any real issues, and showed his composure. He just held them off with those par putts.”
When asked how it felt to bring in a champion, Bright grinned widely, “Amazing! And to think it’s the first caddy loop I’ve ever had!”
Offered Morikawa: “You know, I was just trying to keep the same game plan. If I made a mistake, I tried to get myself out of it. That birdie on the first and some pars got me going; the pitch on the 17th was probably my worst of the tournament.
“I had to grind from the first hole; my game really held up he last couple of days, and it let up a bit (Saturday),” he added. “I don’t know if it was fatigue or not, but I’m really happy with how I battled back to save pars.”
Ghim, who had worn a Chicago Cubs baseball cap during the final round, admitted he was looking for some luck from his favorite team and defending World Series champion.
“When I cut it to one on the 13th, I absolutely thought I was right back in it,” he said while sitting with his caddy and father Jeff. “I was just looking for an opportunity; it’s hard to think Collin or Theo would make a mistake, so you want to keep making birdies.
“When you’re behind, you have to expect Collin and Theo to put their foot on the gas. Neither did, and I had those two bogeys on 16 and 18 … I still feel like I gave it my best shot, but things didn’t go my way.”
Next up for both Morikawa and Ghim: The Trans-Miss Amateur, slated for the week of July 9-13 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan. On that same course, Ghim finished in a second-place tie at the Big 12 Championships, and took runner-up laurels by himself at the NCAA Texas Regional tourney.
BUNKER SHOTS: It should be known that Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach, Calif., took the Joseph Sprague Memorial Award as the low mid-amateur; he shot a twounder 67 for a 278 total and mustered a tie for 21st place … Coventry’s Bobby Leopold paced the localities with a final 18 of even-par 69 to knot eight others for 36th at four-over, while Attleboro resident and recent Bishop Feehan High graduate Davis Chatfield (71) closed in a three-way tie for 52nd with a sevenover 283.