Shuart Reigns Victorious at Turtle Creek Club
Round of 64 matches kicked off Friday morning at Turtle Creek Club with the number one seed, Chandler Blanchet, in the first group to tee off. Blanchet conquered his first match 3 and 2, advancing to the Round of 16 matches. Defending Champion Philip Knowles would advance to face Blanchet in the Round of 16 matches after defeating the 33rd seed Justin Hulbert one-up. Number two seed, Austin Hitt, won his match against Tyler Cohen 2 and 1, to move forward to the afternoon matches. Michael Bakker, 49th seed, was the first match in of the day as a 6 and 4 victory over Michael Chipolone advanced him to the round of 32. Only one match in the morning needed extra holes to decide as 2013 Player of the Year Jon Veneziano bested Kevin Jorden in 19 holes.
Thirty-two players moved on to their second match of the day Friday afternoon. Philip Knowles moved closer to defending his title after winning his match against Blanchet 3 and 2. Bakker continued his great play by advancing to the Round of 16 with a 4 and 3 victory over Jalen Ledger. T J Shuart, 2014 Amateur Public Links Champion, beat John Wegmann 1 up to advance to Saturday. Cristian DiMarco defeated Jace McCarron to move closer to the Finals. Jon Veneziano advanced to the Round of 16 matches with a 4 and 3 win over Mike Riley. The highlight of the first day of matches came from Ernesto Marin who scored a hole-in-one on the par three, eighth hole.
Saturday morning began with the Round of 16 matches and would end with the Quarterfinals. The quest for Knowles to make three consecutive Championship matches would come to an end as Bakker defeated him 3 and 2. Bakker’s winning streak ended in the Quarterfinals after being defeated by T J Shuart on the 19th hole. Harvard University golfer Rohan Ramnath won his Round of 16 match against Edward Kenny and later conquered Derron Peyton 3 and 2 to move on to the Final Four. Cristian DiMarco continued advancing through the Round of 16 to the Semifinals after winning his match against Harrison Winger 4 and 2. The last player advancing to the Semifinals was Michael DeMorat who beat 2015 Junior Amateur Match Play Champion, Tyler Dierwechter, in the Quarterfinals.
The Semifinal Matches would begin Sunday with the 25th seed, T J Shuart, against, 4th seed, Rohan Ramnath. In the lower bracket 26 seed Cristian DiMarco would square off against 3 seed Michael DeMorat. Ramnath had Shuart in an early hole after a birdie-birdie start, but Shuart would recover to get it back to a 1 up lead by Ramnath on the 17th tee. A birdie-birdie close for Shuart advanced him to the finals. In the other semifinal match, DeMorat had DiMarco on edge after winning the first four holes of the match. DiMarco was able to win the next two holes to cut the lead down to 2 up, but it proved to be insurmountable as DeMorat won 3 and 2.
The Championship match was marked by excellent play as three of the first holes were won with birdies. Shuart would take an early one up lead to the 9th hole. Two more birdies , as well as a few miscues from DeMorat would stretch the lead to four up through 14 holes – enough to make Shuart dormie. A birdie from DeMorat would stretch the match to the 16th hole, but a birdie there by Shuart would close the door on DeMorat. The 4 and 2 victory gives the Fort Lauderdale resident his third FSGA Championship,
Before reaching the Championship, more than 340 players attempted to qualify at one of six sites across the state. In the qualifying stage, players competed in 18 holes of stroke play in hopes of reaching the Championship at Turtle Creek Club. The Match Play Championship begins with an 18-hole seeding round to seed the 64 player field. Single elimination match play follows to determine the Match Play Champion. A big thank you is in order to the membership and staff at Turtle Creek Club. It was a pleasure working with such a first class facility.
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