Jacksonville, Fla. – After a marathon over the last four days that included seven rounds of golf, Andrew Morris was the last man standing to become the 31st Amateur Match Play Champion. Morris took down Cooper Smith 4&3 in the finals to bring the trophy home.
How it happened
At the beginning of the week, 64 players began pool play all hoping to be the last remaining player standing, but Morris was the only one who successfully did it after 126 holes of golf. Being a local to Jacksonville, he was able to take full advantage of knowing the golf course from playing it multiple times previously.
Not only did Morris get through his pool easily, he went 3-0 to do it. From there, the Farleigh Dickinson alumni said it perfectly. “The names I had to go through made it super hard”.
His first match up proved that statement to be very true. Taking on the 106th Amateur Champion Marc Dull, Morris knew he had to get off to a hot start to beat him. He went 2-up on the front nine while Dull tried to claw his way back unsuccessfully, leading to a victory of 1-up.
His next matchup against Chase Baldwin was vital to giving him confidence heading into the semifinals. He beat Chase Baldwin 3&2 to face reigning amateur and mid-amateur of the year, Joey Latowski. Latowski knows his way around match play quite well having an impressive resume at the Mid-Amateur Championship and back-to-back semifinalist appearances at the Amateur Match Play.
Latowski got off to a 2-up lead through through two as Morris struggled for the first time during the tournament. From there, he was able to battle back to a 4&2 victory.
Coming down to the final match, Andrew Morris knew he was going to need to play some great golf to beat Cooper Smith. Smith knows Deerwood Country Club like the back of his hand after playing at the University of North Florida for a few years before transferring to the University of South Florida.
The two competitors traded blows back and forth all afternoon. The two were a combined nine-under par on the front nine with eagles and birdies coming left and right. Playing the last six holes of the round in four-under par, Smith was not able to keep up with Morris, where he won the championship match 4&3.
Morris had a lot of family and friends on the sidelines watching. However, his dad was not one of them. “I lost my father last year, and I was wearing a shirt that he gave me. He definitely is looking down and smiling”. Morris said after the round.
With a win for his late father, Andrew Morris becomes the 31st Amateur Champion after playing some great golf all week long.
Round of 16 & Quarterfinal Recap
Cooper Smith defeated Jay Brooks 1 up in the morning match that was highly contested. After winning the first two holes, he dropped the 3rd hole. Despite never trailing in the match, he was never more than 1 up. The pair of State Amateur runner-up's both birdied the 18th to give Smith a 1 up victory. In the afternoon, the match would again go the distance for Smith, defeating defending Champion, John Houchin 1 up. Birdies on 10, 11 & 13 saw Smith move to 2 up. Houchin would answer on 14 & 16 with birdies, but was unable to overcome a bogey on 15, and a few putts burning edges on 17 & 18.
Sebastian Nachilly survived a sloppy morning, down 3 early to German Tagle. Birdies on 11, 13 & 16 would see him close out 3 & 2. In the afternoon vs Jason Duff, Nachilly would win the 1st hole with a birdie and retain a 1 or 2 up lead the entire afternoon. After Duff's approach to 17 fell short and he failed to get up and down, Nachilly was the victor, 2 & 1.
Joey Latowski took down fellow South Florida Mid-Amateur Adam Parisi 3 & 2 in the AM, in a match he was 4 up through 10 and controlled. In the afternoon, was much of the same for last year's runner-up and two-time Champion. He would be five-under par thru 15 and take down Rhett Pooley, 4 &3, dropping only a single hole (12), his lone bogey of the afternoon.
Andrew Morris would find himself in a Round of 16 birth vs Marc Dull, current State Amateur Champion, and arguably hottest Mid-Amateur in Florida at the moment. Making the turn 2 up as a considerable underdog, Morris would watch he lead dwindle and Dull birdie 10 & 11, but with no fear he quickly answered with a birdie on 12 to go 1 up. A sloppy mistake by Dull around the 15th green after missing it short, saw a double-bogey and Morris moving to 2 up with 3 to play. Morris would find the penalty area on 17 while 2 up and see the lead fall to just one. With both players with eagle looks on the 18th, they both 2 putted seeing Morris hold on for a 1 up victory and the upset. Again in the afternoon, potentially as the underdog to Deerwood member Chase Baldwin, Morris would keep the ball in front of him and making a lot of pars, and cruise out to a 3 up lead through 8. Holding on at 2 up through 15, Morris would drain a 30 footer for birdie on the par 4, 16th for a 3&2 victory and a semifinal birth.
Pool Play Recap
Defending Champion & 1 Seed John Houchin went 3-0 and will face Ford Wilt after advancing in a play-off!
Cooper Smith after a deep run last year, will face Jay Brooks. Both players went 3-0 and also saw each other at the State Amateur this year with top 5 finishes
Sebastian Nachilly won his match to go 2-0-1, then won his first play-off hole, and will face German Tagele who earned 2.5 points in pool play.
Two players with local knowledge, UNF's Jason Duff & James Bradley went 3-0 and will face-off on the college's home course.
Joey Latowski dropped his first match then won 2 straight, and defeated Mingbo Jiang & Peter Thompson in a play-off, the two-time Mid-Amateur Champion and returning finalist will face Adam Parisi, who advanced after going 2-0-1.
Stefan Ink went 3-0 and the Ponte Vedra native will face 2014 Junior Amatuer Match Play Champion, Rhett Pooley, who is 3-0 this week.
State Amateur Champion Marc Dull advanced in play-off fashion after dropping his opening match yesterday and will face Jacksonville native Andrew Morris, who went 3-0 to win his pool.
Jake Nash tied his morning match and then advanced in a play-off and will face Deerwood CC member Chase Baldwin who advanced by going 3-0 on home turf.
Day 1 Recap
Defending Champion John Houchin improved to 9-0 in the event and has 2 points and is set to face Ty Capps (1.5) in AM needing a half point to advance.
Mingbo Jiang is 2-0 and will face Joey Latowsk (1-1) tomorrow, controlling his own destiny.
Sebastiano Mascia was 2-0 but will face State Am Champion Marc Dull, controlling his own destiny to advance.
Austin Collins (2-0) leads the pool, while Nathan Bertsch & Sebastian Nachilly both have 1 point and will need assistance by Chip Brooke to force a play-off.
Jason Duff goes 2-0 and will play Garrett Giles (1-0-1) with the winner advancing.
Dubbed the "Group of Death" by the FSGA Comms Department, Scott Turner & Jake Nash have 1.5 points while Jeff Dennis has 1 point, with lots to play out tomorrow.
Stefan Ink with 2 points controls his own destiny while Justin Grant & Brandon Lohr remain alive with 1 point each.
Cooper Smith who made a semifinal appearance last year, tallied 2 points and will control his own destiny to advance to the bracket of 16.
Jay Brooks with 2 points will look to advance coming off a strong finish at the State Amateur playing in the final group.
Rhett Pooley goes 2-0 and controls his own destiny, a half point in the AM will see him advance.
Chase Baldwin followed up qualifying for the US Mid-Amateur yesterday by going 2-0 today on his home course to lead Pool 11
In a battle of two kids who grew up at Buckhorn Springs, but separated by almost a decade, James Bradley & John Coultas are both 2-0 and will face off in the AM to advance.
German Tagle & Jonah Leach has 1.5 points each while Charles Castellano remains alive with 1 point.
Andrew Morris (2-0) will face Zach Baldwin (1-0) in the AM controlling his own destiny to advance.
Christopher Anderson goes 2-0 and will look to build on match play success from this event last year, the US Mid-Amateur & this past May's Mid-Amateur
Sean Stone (2-0) leads while Tommy Tyler & Ford Wilt both have 1 point per.
