Top 10 storylines: Vogel wins U.S. Pub-Links
30 Dec 2012
by Golfweek
see also: T.J. Vogel Rankings
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T.J. Vogel
By Ron Balicki, Golfweek
There were plenty of good stories that
came out of amateur golf this past
season,
exciting, happy endings as well as
disappointing, heart-breaking endings.
From Steven Fox winning the U.S.
Amateur, to Nathan Smith capturing a
record fourth
U.S. Mid-Amateur to a 14-year-old from
China qualifying for next year’s Masters --
and
a whole lot more along the way.
I’ve been covering amateur golf at just
about every level for some 30 years and it
seems each year provides its own share
of interesting stories, whether in victory or
defeat.
Golfweek's Top
10
Stories of 2012
- No. 10: Guan
wins Asian Am | Read
- No. 9:
Peter Williamson's Summer | Read
- No.
8 Rhys Pugh's Comeback | Read
- No. 7:
Chris Williams' Western Am run
|
Read
- No. 6:
Daan Huizing wins Lytham Trophy | Read
- No. 5:
USA dominates World Am Team | Read
- No.
4:
T.J.
Vogel wins U.S. Public Links | Read
- No.
3:
Alan Dunbar wins British Amateur | Read
- No.
2:
Nathan Smith wins 4th U.S. Mid-Am | Read
- No.
1:
Steven Fox wins thrilling U.S. Am | Read
|
Compiling a list of the best of them for
2012 was difficult, but here is a list of my
top
10:
No. 4: T.J. Vogel, from Cooper City, Fla.
and a senior at Florida, made the
most impressive statement of his young
amateur career when he defeated
fellow Floridian Kevin Aylwin 12 and 10 in
the scheduled 36-hole final and
captured the U.S. Amateur Public Links
Championship at Soldier Hollow Golf
Club in Midway, Utah.
So impressive was Vogel that he never
lost a hole and was 10-up after the
morning session’s first 18 holes. Just how
good was Vogel playing?
Consider that Aylwin sank a pair of 20-foot
putts and had a chip-in and was
still 10-down through the morning.
“I had that feeling today,” Vogel said
afterward. “I can’t tell you why, I just
knew I was going to play well. There was
just no way (he felt) I was going
to lose.”
And to win in the manner in which he did,
Vogel simply said, “This isn’t real.”
Yes, T.J., it was and so to is the invitation
to compete in the 2013 Masters
that goes along with the victory.
The final score marked the second largest
margin of victory in USGA
competition in a 36-hole final next to the
12-and-11 marks set by C.B.
Macdonald in the first U.S. Amateur
Championship in 1895 and matched by
Jim Sorenson in the 1995 U.S. Amateur
Public Links.