- Paul Battson / Niagara Gazette photo
Patience is most often a virtue in golf, as it is in other
walks of life. It was most certainly was for
Carson Bacha
Saturday afternoon.
Bacha, a York, Pa. native and a redshirt sophomore to be
at Auburn, emerged as the champion of the 63rd Porter
Cup over
Garrett Engle (Harrisburg, Pa.) with a par on the
first hole of a sudden-death playoff after the pair finished
the regulation 72 holes at Niagara Falls Country Club at 6-
under par 274.
Bacha finished with a 2-under par 68 while Engle signed
for an even-par 70.
It’s Bacha’s second significant win of the summer; he
won the Dogwood Invitational last month. “I put The Porter Cup and
the Dogwood) at the top of the list for the best two wins
I’ve had,” he said.
Related: War (Double) Eagle: Carson Bacha wins Dogwood Invitational
Bacha and Engle emerged from a four-way scramble
down the stretch.
Dillon Stewart (Fort Collins,
Col./Oklahoma State) finished alone in third place at 275
after a closing 67.
Jack Boulger (Walpole, Mass./Southern
California), finished with a 67 of his own to wind up at
276.
Matthew Anderson (Mississauga, Ontario) was at 277.
Jared Edwards (Auckland, New Zealand),
Connor Fewkes
(Kalgoorlie, Western Australia),
Nathan Han (Somers,
N.Y.),
Garrett Rank (Waterloo, Ontario, and
William
Duquette (Laval, Quebec) were all at 278.
Bacha said the key to his win was staying patient and
making good on-course decisions, something he admits
he wasn’t doing earlier in the week.
“I just wasn’t putting the ball in the right places,” he said,
“so my goal out there today was to think my way around
the course a lot better, be more patient.
“I felt like I did a great job with that; today I had the most
good looks at birdie, I hit a lot of really good putts. My
mom (Kerri) who was on the bag, did a great job of
keeping me level-headed and saying ‘Your time will
come. Just keep giving yourself chances.' I felt like I did a great job staying patient.”
Bacha started the final round two shots behind Engle,
who will transfer to transfer to UT-Chattanooga this fall
after spending his freshman season on the roster at
Oklahoma although he did not compete in any
tournaments.
Stewart and
Shubham Jaglan (Tampa, Fla./University of
South Florida) were two shots behind Bacha, whose
opening nine featured a single birdie at the par-5 third;
he added a birdie at the par-4 10th to move to six under
par for the tournament.
Engle played his first nine holes in 1-over par 36 with two
bogeys and a birdie.
Meantime, Stewart, who played with Bacha and Engle in
the final threesome, was making a charge; he birdied
three of his first six holes and made the turn in 3-under
par 32, then birdied the par-4 10th and par-5 11th to take
the lead alone at seven under par before making bogey
at the par-3 16th.
Boulger was not to be counted out either after going out
in 32. He added birdies at the par-4 14th and the 16th.
At that point, Bacha, Engle, Stewart, and Boulger were all
tied for the lead with two holes remaining.
Stewart fell out of the chase when bogeyed the 17th while
Boulger bogeyed 17 and 18.
Bacha took the lead for the last time in regulation with a
birdie at the par-4 17th.
“I had 137 in the left center of the fairway,” he said. “The
shot was into the wind and a little uphill. I hot a nine-iron that came out perfect. I flighted it down, hit it
straight at the pin, and it landed about three feet short.
That was a really special shot. It was a great takeaway
from this tournament.”
Bacha stumbled at the par-3 18th when his six-foot par
putt, that would have given him the win outright, ran
eight feet past the hole.
“I had a six-footer to win,” he said, that was an extremely
tough putt, a downhill left-to-right slider and extremely
fast. I hit an okay putt but it broke on me really hard. I
went from having a six-footer to win to having an eight-footer to get into a playoff.”
The playoff essentially concluded at the 18th tee when
Bacha, who had the honor, hit a five-iron to 15 feet at
the 200-yard par three. Engle followed and hit his tee
shot out of bounds.
“It was unfortunate he hit the shot he hit,” Bacha said,
“but he had pressure on him after I hit that shot right on
front of him.”
ABOUT THE
Porter Cup
One of the premier amateur events in the
nation, this 72-hole stroke play invitational has
lots of extra activities that give this event a special
flavor. The winning player receives a green blazer, as
well as an invitation to the Master of the Amateurs
tournament in Melbourne, Australia. Pre-tournament
qualifying is a few weeks prior to the
event and approximately five spots are available.
Starting in 2023, the men's and women's
Porter Cup championships are run concurrently with
54 players in each field and alternating
tee times. It's been exciting seeing the top players in each division in final pairings on the par-3 18th hole at Niagara Falls CC, with large galleries always appreciative of the rising talent.
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