Scott Harvey (Golfweek photo)
LOS ANGELES, California (June 25, 2016) -- Scott
Harvey (North Carolina) proved once again why he is
the top-ranked Mid-Am in the world, taking a
prestigious title at the George C. Thomas Invitational
today in a sudden-death playoff.
Competing at the par-70 Los Angeles Country
Club, Harvey closed out the 54-hole tournament with
a round of 2-over 72. Leading after 36 holes, he was
caught by LACC member Stewart Hagestad, who
fired a final round of 70 for a tournament total of
even par 210.
And the best part? The 2015 USA Walker Cup
team member got a chance to play extra holes (and
win) in front of 2017 USA Walker Cup captain Spider
Miller.
Leading by one on the last tee, Harvey steered
his 5-iron approach a bit too far left, away from the
pin tucked on the right side of the green. The ball
rolled through the fast and firm surface, and briefly
held up in the long fescue that surrounds the bunkers
before trickling into an almost unplayable spot
behind that same tall grass. His only option was to
play away from the pin, to 40 feet, and from there
he two putted.
Sound like a U.S. Open? That's because Los
Angeles Country Club is now a U.S. Open course.
After hosting the 2017 Walker Cup, LACC will host
the 2023 U.S. Open -- and what a venue it will be.
Hagestad is a member of LACC who played
college golf at USC, where he graduated in 2013.
He's got two U.S. Amateur appearances under his
belt. He may not be as well known as Harvey, but
with the home course advantage and "under-the-
radar" status as a new mid-am, he was going to be
no pushover.
When the two players finished deadlocked, they
played a three hole aggregate playoff to settle the
tie.
When that didn't do it, the pair headed for sudden-
death, starting at the par-5 first hole.
"During the aggregate playoff I hooked my
drive left there," said Harvey. "So I put
my anti-left swing on my drive in sudden-death and
blocked it right, but hit a good hybrid over the trees
to about 20 feet short of a front pin."
With the greens fast and firm, Hagestad had
trouble getting his third shot from 50 yards to stop,
leaving him 40 feet for birdie. As Harvey approached
his ball sitting with twenty feet of fast fairway
between it and the pin, the 2015 Walker Cup player
pulled out the putter.
"I thought of all those times in England we
putted from well off the green, and putted it up to
three inches for an easy birdie," said Harvey.
When Hagestad couldn't convert, the George C.
Thomas title was Harvey's, in his first year playing
the event and first time at Los Angeles Country Club.
Doing it in front of Spider Miller was certainly a
bonus for the No. 1 ranked Mid-Amateur in AmateurGolf.com Mid-Am
Rankings.
Mike McCoy of Iowa posted 1-over 211 to finish
just a shot out of the playoff in third place. Rounding
out the top five were Kris Mikkelson of Georgia (3-
over 213) and Rob Couture of Texas (6-over 216).
SENIOR DIVISION
The Senior Division also required a playoff, as
Chip Lutz of Pennsylvania and Steve Hudson of
Alabama finished regulation at 1-over. Both players
passed the 36-hole leaders with rounds of 1-under 69
in the final round -- Hudson in the third to last group
and Lutz in the second to last pairing.
Lutz, the 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur champ, had to
birdie the difficult 18th hole to get into the lead. Like
Mid-Am winner Harvey, he had a 5-iron from 195 yards
into the tucked back-right pin.
"I was getting some mixed info and didn’t know how I
stood," said Lutz. "I thought I needed birdies."
"My 5-iron went between the bunker and the pin," Lutz
said. "It rolled up against the back collar and came
back to 5 feet and I made the left-to-right slider for
69."
In the aggregate playoff, Lutz continued his
momentum, hitting his greenside bunker shot to inches
for an easy birdie on the par-5 first, then following that
up with a solid par on the second hole as Hudson went
par-bogey. Taking a two stroke lead into the final hole
of the playoff Lutz made a final par for the win.
MORE ABOUT SCOTT HARVEY
Golf runs in many families. Look no further than
the PGA Tour to see that. But amateur golf is a
tradition that runs deep as well. Scott Harvey's dad,
the late Bill Harvey, is a member of the Carolinas
Golf Hall of Fame who played the competitive
amateur circuit all of his life.
"My dad won the Porter Cup, the Rice
Planters, and a number of other events," said
Harvey. "He operated a driving range, and I
grew up practicing there, and picking balls by
hand."
Harvey played collegiality at the University of
West Florida, and later High Point University.
His amateur career jumped to a new level when
he captured the U.S. Mid-Amateur in 2014, earning
an invitation to the 2015 Masters and just about any
competitive event he chose to compete in. The
pinnacle, a Mid-Am spot on the 2015 Walker Cup,
playing for USA in a losing effort against GB&I
at Royal Lytham and St. Annes in England.
After being named the 2015 Carolinas Player-of-
the-Year for the 5th-straight time in 2015, Harvey
captured the Carolinas Mid-Am in April and made a
run at qualifying for the U.S. Open in sectional
qualifying before winning the Thomas. We like his
chances of getting a chance to be on the winning side
of the Walker Cup when USA plays on home soil in
2017.
ABOUT THE
George Thomas Invitational
54-hole stroke play invitational with Mid-Am and
Senior divisions is named for George C. Thomas, Jr.,
the legendary golf course architect who designed the
courses for Bel-Air Country Club, The Los Angeles
Country Club, Riviera Country Club and others in the
1920s. Thomas was a prominent rose breeder on
the
East Coast before gaining fame as a golf course
designer. Los Angeles Country Club was the host of
the 2017 Walker Cup.
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