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| SportsWednesday, August 15, 2007 10:20 PM CDT |
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Mitchell shot out of lead at Illinois State Amateur
TUSCOLA -- Todd Mitchell has been searching for his third Illinois State Amateur Golf Championship title since winning his second straight crown in 2003. Today, the 29-year-old Bloomington insurance agent has a golden opportunity to achieve that goal. Mitchell birdied three of his last five holes Wednesday to shoot a 3-under-par 68 in the second round of the State Amateur at Ironhorse Golf Club. That gave him a 36-hole total of 135, tied for second place and a stroke behind leader Ravi Patel of Naperville (69) heading into today’s 36-hole conclusion. “The last five holes were big,” said Mitchell. “I had struggled to get things done most of the day.” Mitchell and Patel, a recent Neaqua Valley High School graduate who will attend Northwestern, will be in the final group today at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Also tied for second with Mitchell are Zach Barlow of Percy (66) and John Ehrgott of Peoria (68). Brothers Nick and Matt Bova of Bloomington are tied for ninth at 139. Nick Bova fired 67 Wednesday, while his brother shot 70. Another Bloomington golfer, Matt Miller, entered the day tied for second after an opening 66. Miller was 1-under after his first three holes Wednesday, but didn’t make another birdie and struggled to a 75 that left him tied for 17th at 141. Two other Bloomington golfers also will play today. Zach Jecklin shot his second straight 71 for a 142 total, while William Cullen fired 70-143. Two of Cullen’s teammates at Illinois State also advanced – Joe Emerich of Palatine (72-140) and Tommy Bliefnick of Decatur (68-141). There were 39 golfers who shot 2-over-par 144 or better and made the cut for today’s final two rounds by being within 10 shots of the lead. Kyle English of Bloomington, the youngest player in the field at 16-years old, shot 73-145 and missed the cut by a stroke. Mitchell started on No. 10 Wednesday. He was 1-under going to the 18th, where he hit his second shot into the water. But he got up and down from 60 yards out to save bogey. “I think that settled me down a little bit,” he said. “I was uptight and felt I needed to get something going. I was almost forcing the issue. It put things back in perspective.” Mitchell had a tap-in birdie on No. 5 and sank an 8-footer for another birdie at the seventh. He poured in a 25-foot birdie putt at No. 8 to get to 7-under before missing a 12-foot birdie chance on the ninth. Still, he put himself in the final group on the last day at the State Amateur for the first time. Nick Bova and his younger brother, who both attend Methodist (N.C.) University, left North Carolina at 7 o’clock Sunday night and arrived here at 5 a.m. Monday. They have not played a competitive tournament since the NCAA Division III National Tournament in May, but the State Am usually brings out the best in them. Two years ago at Bloomington’s Crestwicke Country Club, Nick Bova tied for fifth. Matt Bova finished tied for fifth last year at Edgewood Valley Country Club in LaGrange, while his brother tied for 11th. Nick Bova has hit 15 greens in regulation both rounds here. But he shot five strokes better Wednesday simply because, he said, “I made some putts.” A 25-foot birdie putt at No. 7 got Nick Bova started. He followed that with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 eighth and added birdies on Nos. 11 and 17. “I hit the ball absolutely great,” he said. “My ball striking from fairway to green is probably the best I’ve ever hit it. Every shot is coming off the way I want.” Matt Bova started on No. 10 Wednesday and was 2-over at the turn. He sank a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 1 and “that got me jump started. That gave me a lot of momentum.” Matt Bova added two more birdies to shoot 3-under 33 on the front. “My putter has been hot,” he said. “On Tuesday, I had 24 putts. On my back side today, I got hot and hit the ball well. Last year gave me a lot of confidence to see I could play with the best amateur players in the state of Illinois.” Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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not a fan wrote on Aug 16, 2007 6:48 PM:
Todds #1 Fan wrote on Aug 16, 2007 12:11 AM:
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