Concession Cup: Patrick Christovich ok with a late nod

10 Apr 2014
by Pete Wlodkowski of AmateurGolf.com
see also: Concession Cup Matches presented by Golf Genius, The Landings Club, Patrick Christovich Profile
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AmateurGolf.com members have excelled at all levels of the competitive game. One of the things we enjoy most is hearing that a player has taken their game to the next level.

Patrick Christovich of New Orleans is the latest to take it up a notch, by being invited to replace Gary Nickaus on the USA Concession Cup team next month at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida.

Christovich is one of the top Mid-Ams in the country, and was likely on a very short list of potential candidates to be one of the two designated Mid-Ams on the Walker Cup team in 2013.

"I was a Walker Cup longshot last year," said Christovich, 35, in a phone interview. "I played well early in the season but not at the end."

Early this season, Christovich and partner Tommy Brennan (a former U.S. Mid-Am runner- up) won the National Senior-Junior. The field at the Dye Preserve in Florida included the team of former Clemson standout John Engler and his partner Mike McCoy, the reigning US Mid-Am champ. In March, he came in third against a stacked college field at the Azalea Amateur in South Carolina, and that likely raised some eyebrows.

Those recent performances may have gotten Christovich noticed, but his game has been building over the past few years both on the regional and national levels. He won four-straight Lousiana Mid-Am titles from 2010-13, as well as the Birmingham National in 2012 and the Crane Cup in 2013. Now he will be teammates on a Vinny Giles-captained team representing the USA alongside Mid-Ams Mike McCoy, Nathan Smith, Trip Kuehne, Gene Elliot, Scott Harvey, Tim Jackson and Todd White. (If you thing that list is impressive, check out the Senior and Super-Senior players.)

Christovich has played alongside most or all of these players, but when he got off the phone with Captain Vinny Giles there was one lingering thought.

"Never in my life did I think I would get to be on a team with Jack Nicklaus as an honorary captain."

Yes, Jack Nicklaus will be honorary captain of the USA team, while Tony Jacklin will serve that capacity for the GB&I team. The club and the event will commemorate Nicklaus’ concession of a two-foot to Britian’s Tony Jacklin in the 1969 Ryder Cup, which ended the match in a first-ever tie.

AmateurGolf.com will provide full coverage starting May 1. Read more about the 2014 USA Concession Cup team here.

ABOUT THE Concession Cup

Created by supporters of amateur golf, The Concession Cup is an event designed to celebrate the game through international competition while giving back to worthy causes. The event is a biennial team competition played between teams comprised of leading male Mid-Amateurs, Senior Amateurs and Super Senior Amateurs from the United States and Europe.

The Concession Cup Committee will select the participating players through the following categories:
Six (6) Mid-Amateurs, age 25 to 54.
Six (6) Senior Amateurs, age 55 and older.
Two (2) Senior Amateurs, age 65 and older.

The competition is conducted over three days through the traditional team match-play formats of foursome, four-ball and singles. In honor of two of the greatest amateur competitors in the history of the game, a trophy has been commissioned in the names of United States amateur, Bill Campbell and British Amateur, Sir Michael Bonallack – the Campbell/Bonallack trophy will be presented to the winning team at the conclusion of the matches.