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| SportsFriday, August 17, 2007 1:30 AM CDT |
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Nine on final hole sinks Mitchell at State Am
TUSCOLA — Chances are Todd Mitchell will go right past “Tin Cup” the next time he stumbles upon the golf flick while channel surfing. Been there, done that. Tied for the lead with a hole left Thursday in the Illinois State Amateur Championship at Ironhorse Golf Club, the two-time champion from Bloomington suffered a swift and unexpected collapse. Going for the green at the par-4 No. 9, which required a carry of about 280 yards over a lake that he easily accomplished the first two days, Mitchell’s hopes for a third title quickly vanished. Mitchell put three balls in the water on the way to a 9, allowing 18-year-old Ravi Patel of Naperville to make a safe par and become the youngest winner in the tourney’s 77-year history. “I’ve seen it once, in a movie,” said Mitchell of his final-hole meltdown, a la the Kevin Costner character in "Tin Cup." “With a slight wind behind me, I knew it was just a solid 3-wood. I don’t know if I teed it up higher than normal, but I hit it right off the top of the club.” Patel was just as shocked when Mitchell popped up his drive and came up 50 yards short of clearing the lake. Patel laid up with a hybrid wood before Mitchell hit two more balls in the water from the drop area. “I figured he was going to get his somewhere near the green,” said Patel, a Northwestern recruit. “I had my driver ready and was getting focused to hit my shot. I had my strategy down and everything. I saw it and changed plans and immediately got back in focus and finished it out.” Patel, who led the entire tourney, closed with a 3-under-par 68 for a 202 total, three strokes ahead of John Ehrgott of Peoria (70) and Blake Johnson of Winnetka (68). Mitchell settled for 72 and a tie for sixth at 207. Matt Bova of Bloomington finished in the top 10 for the second straight year, shooting 70-210 for eighth. Two Illinois State golfers — Tommy Bliefnick of Decatur (70-211) and Joe Emerich of Palatine (72-212) — placed ninth and tied for 10th, respectively. With the tourney shortened to 54 holes because of inclement weather earlier in the day, Mitchell and Patel were tied at 11-under with a hole left. Mitchell had momentum on his side, rallying from a three-stroke deficit with seven holes left. Mitchell smashed a monster 3-wood from 286 yards into the wind on his second shot on the par-5 eighth, hitting the green. He two-putted for his third birdie in the last four holes and momentarily held the lead for the first time all day until Patel sank a clutch 10-foot birdie putt. “I just got off No. 8 hitting one of the best 3-woods I’ve ever hit,” said Mitchell. “I thought I had to make the same exact swing, and I would hit it right in the middle of the green.” Mitchell and Patel were on No. 1, their 10th hole of the day, when bad weather halted play for almost four hours. It was announced during the delay the final 18 holes would be canceled. When play resumed, Patel sank a 12-foot birdie putt and Mitchell matched that from 2½ feet to stay two strokes behind. Mitchell almost didn’t find his tee shot in the heavy rough on the par-5 second and fell three behind when Patel made a short birdie putt. Patel buckled slightly with bogeys on the next two holes. Both players birdied No. 5 before Mitchell drew even by sinking a 6-foot birdie putt on the seventh. “We all knew what we had to do to make a move (after the delay). I had done that pretty much until the 54th hole in the tournament,” said Mitchell. “I’ve had very good success in this tournament down the stretch when things were tight before. “I don’t think it was nerves. I just hit a bad shot, and under the circumstances it was really bad.” In the group ahead of Mitchell and Patel, Ehrgott went for the green at the ninth and put his tee shot in the water. But after a drop, Ehrgott hit his third shot 2 feet away to save par. Patel thought he was “fortunate” to be hitting second on No. 9 tee so he could see what Mitchell did. “I wouldn’t say he necessarily handed it to me. I had been playing pretty well and putting well the whole week,” said Patel. “I made a great putt on 8 to keep the pressure on. “If I gave him a one-shot lead going to the last hole, he probably would have laid up and made me make birdie or he would have pured that 3-wood. I’m not sure he was expecting me to make that putt.” 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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still #1 Todd Fan wrote on Aug 17, 2007 12:58 PM:
Golf Fan wrote on Aug 17, 2007 11:10 AM:
golfer wrote on Aug 17, 2007 11:09 AM:
Mark Roberts wrote on Aug 17, 2007 10:18 AM:
tin cup wrote on Aug 17, 2007 9:38 AM:
poor todd... wrote on Aug 17, 2007 6:44 AM:
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