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PENSACOLA, Fla. - Justin Grant captured his first FSGA championship in dramatic fashion on Sunday at Pensacola Country Club. The Ocala native raised the trophy at the Mid-Amateur Stroke Play Championship, firing a final-round 69 to secure the victory with a 5-under 211 for the three-day championship.
Pensacola Country Club played host to 99 of the State's top Mid-Amateur players (ages 25 & over), with the Jerry Pate design showing its teeth and mother nature cooperating perfectly with cool & dry weather, along with light breezes to compliment the course's firm and fast conditions. Heading into the first round, the players were raving about the putting greens. A top player said, "these are the smoothest and fastest bermuda greens I've ever played on."
The first round saw Matt Galloway, of Tampa, and Rhett Pooley, of Babson Park, open with 69 (-3) and tie for the lead. Both players, past FSGA champions, had different views heading into the week. For Galloway, the 2007 Amateur Champion, this was an opportunity to return to his home golf course from college, having attended and played for the University of West Florida. Feeling at home, he attacked the par 5's and found himself in the mix. Pooley, the 2014 Junior Amateur Match Play champion and 2019 Amateur runner-up, was playing his first FSGA Mid-Amateur event, having turned 25 in May, and recently made match play in the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship last month at Erin Hills. The 2013 and 2015 Champion, Joe Alfieri, sat one stroke behind at two-under par, opening with 70.
Day Two saw the breeze pickup earlier in the morning, and turn around out of the North as opposed to Fridays westerly winds, giving Pensacola Country Club a slightly different look. Playing in the morning, reigning Senior Player of the Year, Miles McConnell posted a 68 (-4) to bounce back from opening round struggles and move to 2-under par for the championship. Galloway would continue his steady play and take advantage of the back nine, making four birdies. A lone bogey on the par-3 18th would see him post 70 (-2) for the day and move to 5-under par for the championship. Joe Alfieri, as he does always, hovered in contention and post a 71, good enough to move to 3-under par and join Galloway and McConnell in Sunday's final pairing. Sean O'Donnell, Dillon Humphrey and Grant would also join McConnell at 2-under par and head into the final round three off the lead and play in the group ahead of the leaders.
Sunday morning saw McConnell put pressure on Galloway. While both players bogeyed the first, McConnell birdied the second and third to cut Galloway's lead to just one stroke. Galloway hit his best shot of the week on the par 3 4th. From 179 yards, he hit an 8-iron to the front center fo the challening fourth green that caught the slope and funnel left and in the hole for a hole-in-one. This moved him to 6-under par for the championship and three clear of McConnell. Unbothered, McConnell birdied the fifth and sixth holes to cut the lead back to one stroke. Galloway faltered again and fail to convert a short par putt on the ninth, pulling the duo into a tie for the lead at 5 under with nine holes to play.
One group ahead of the leaders, playing strategically and patiently, Grant had moved to 4 under for the championship with birdies on second and eighth holes. On the back nine, he hept it going, birdieing both the par-5 12th and 14th, keeping the card clean to move to 6 under.
Just as Grant cleaned up for his birdie on the 14th, McConnell birdied the 11th and 12th to remain a shot ahead at 7 under for the championship. McConnell then faltered on the 13th. His approach found the penalty area short and left. With part of the ball showing, he was able to get it out of the water and on to the green, leaving about 60 feet for par. Being agressive, his putt ran past and he missed the bogey comebacker, making a double bogey and falling back to 5 under behind Grant. Grant kept his card clean and made pars on the 15th, 16th and 17th.
McConnell, again showed perserverence and was unbothered, quickly birdied the par-5 14th and the drivable par-4 16th to take back the lead at 7 under as he went to the 17th tee. Almost simultaniously, McConnell's tee shot on 17 hooked left into the water, while up ahead, believing he is chasing from one stroke behind, Grant's 7-iron on 18 went wide right, splashing in the Pensacola Bay. How they both recovered from there determined the championship.
McConnell dropped forward of the tee and was able to get his third shot on the 455-yard par 4 up the left side of the fairway, and his fourth stroke to the front edge of the green. He eventually got down in 7, making a triple-bogey, falling to 4 under with one to play.
Grant dropped two club lengths from the penalty area. about 65 yards short of the hole. His pitch shot hit the low left lip of the hole and left him 4 feet for bogey. Grant converted that putt, and post 5 under for the championship, walking off the green in disappointment, not knowing what had transpired behind him.
McConnell came to the 18th tee, with his head up, and hit a well struck iron that just got caught in the wind and did not release, leaving him 40 feet to force a play-off. The birdie putt wizzed by the hole, giving Grant his first FSGA Championship in dramatic come from behind fashion.
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