Hear from 2019 Greenville County Amateur champion Cole Patterson after his victory in the 52nd annual championship.

Cole Patterson won the Greenville County Amateur championship at Fox Run Country Club. (GolfClub Photo)

Cole Patterson has come close to winning tournaments more times then he cares to remember.

He can remember a top five finish that should have been a win and a pair of record setting rounds only to be bettered by another golfer who also set a record just a little better than his.

At the Greenville County Amateur Patterson was able to set aside the disappointments and concentrate on the opportunity and came away with the county championship.

“It felt good to finally get it done, for sure,” he said. “I really didn’t expect much coming out here. It was fun to be competing again,” said Patterson.

The recent Presbyterian grad entered the final round of the 54 hole championship tied with defending champion Danny Brock.

Patterson was the only golfer in the field to shoot two rounds in the 60’s after posting identical scores of 69 the first two days.

Danny Brock was not able to recover from a poor start in the final round. The defending champion finished in a tie for fourth place. (GolfClub Photo)

Brock opened with a 70 and followed it up with a 4-under 68 to also stand at 6-under par starting the final round.

Brock had a disastrous start to the final round. His first tee shot ended up just a few feet out of bounds. His second tee shot didn’t go out of bounds, but left him with a very difficult shot to get back in play.

“I’ve never started a round like that,” said Brock. “I just hit a bad shot and was a little unlucky on my first drive and a little lucky on my second one. I thought I would have some chances in the round to get some of those shots back so I didn’t panic,” he said.

Brock took an 8 on the hole and fell another shot behind when Patterson carded a birdie. After the first hole Patterson went from even to holding a 5-shot lead over Brock.

“He really just got a bad break for it to roll out of bounds like it did. I was lucky enough to chip in on the first hole to get things rolling,” said Patterson.

Brock knew he could make up for the poor start and set a goal to make the turn at 2-over. Instead he completed the first nine holes at 3-over par to trail Patterson by 4-shots after the first nine holes.

On the second nine Patterson made a birdie on the eleventh hole while Brock bogeyed the hole. Patterson’s lead was now up to six shots over Brock.

While the second round co-leader was battling to stay close to the leader Daniel Sloan and Tyler Tucker moved past Brock and tried to catch Patterson.

The former Blue Hose golfer added another birdie on the 15th hole and coasted the rest of the way. Patterson held a four shot lead before a bogey on the final hole trimmed his margin of victory to three shots.

“I putted well. I made everything I looked at. It started with the chip in on one,” he said.

Tim Garrett added the County Senior title to his two County Amateur championships with a one shot victory over Todd Hendley.

However, even with a comfortable lead on the final green, Patterson still had memories of tournaments that had gotten away from him in the past.

“I’m thinking I lost it here a few times. I’ve lost it coming down the stretch. I just told myself to power through it and try not to put to much pressure on myself,: said Patterson.

The winner finished with a final round 70 for a 208 total and a three shot victory over Tyler Tucker. Tucker posted the best score in the final round shooting a 3-under par 69.

Brock and Daniel Sloan tied for third place with 212 totals while John Bearrie claimed fifth place.

First round co-leaders Robert Lutomski and Walker Redmon finished in a tie for sixth place with Russ Gillig, Brian Horton and two-time champion Tim Garrett.

Senior golfers played the same tees as the rest of the field and the County Amateur crowned a senior champion for the first time.

Garrett added the senior title to the Amateur championships he had won in 2005 and 2007 by finishing one shot in front of former champion Todd Hendley.

Tournament Flight winners included, First Flight – Yancey Johnson, Second Flight – Joseph Anderson, Third Flight – Lindsey Builder, Fourth Flight – Brandon Hansen. Senior First Flight – Steve Addyman, Senior Second Flight – Michael Phillips, Senior Third Flight – Jim Faulkner.

The tournament had a special hole-in-one prize and two golfers made holes-in-one during the tournament, but neither pocketed the $10,000 prize.

Incoming Winthrop freshman golfer Ian Faulconer made a hole-in-one, but because of NCAA rules could not accept the $10,000 prize. (GolfClub Photo)

Ian Faulconer made the first hole-in-on one on the contest hole on Saturday. The future Winthrop College golfer used a 6 iron to ace the 197 yard 11th hole.

He saw his shot roll in the cup and was excited, but half way to the hole he began to worry that he would not be eligible for the prize.

“I thought I remembered something about NCAA rules that do not allow for a scholarship golfer to win a hole-in-one prize,,” he said. “When I got to the hole Coach Shell (Bob Shell one of Faulconer’s golf coaches at Mann) told me I couldn’t win the prize,” said Faulconer.

The second hole-in-one in the tournament was made by Caleb Owen, but since it was the second ace Owen was not eligible for the $10,000 prize.

The Greenville Golf Association used the opportunity of playing the county amateur at Fox Run to honor the club’s most outstanding golfer.

1989 US Amateur champion and former Clemson All-American Chris Patton, who grew up at Fox Run Country Club, was inducted into the Greenville County Golf Hall of Fame by director Robbie Gravley.. (GolfClub Photo)

Chris Patton, the 1989 US Amateur champion grew up on the course and won a county amateur title. The former Clemson All-American who made the cut in the Masters and won five tournaments on five different professional Tours was added to the County Golf Hall of Fame.

Golfers representing the host club, Fox Run, won the Allison Cup.

The home team from Fox Run won the Allison Trophy for the best scores by tournament players from a club. Fox Run won the Allison Cup by a convincing margin over Holly Tree.

Complete scores are available athttp://upstategolfclub.com/2019GreenvilleCountyAmateurresults.html