By Jed Blackwell Associate Editor-Publisher
With a crowded field of local amateurs and college golfers in contention at the Upstate Amateur at Willow Creek, the result came down to a few important factors.
A PGA Tour star, a wildly popular YouTube series, and a strong mental game.
Brad Sill used all three of those to help him focus on doing what he needed to do to win the event.
A Sunday 66 didn’t hurt, either.
Sill fired a two-day total of 9-under-par 135 to win the event by two strokes over Central Alabama golfer Jackson Spybey and Presbyterian College’s Jack Wofford.
Sill, who won the Spartanburg County Amateur last month, said his mental approach throughout both rounds was a key to his win.
He credited the wildly popular “Break 50” YouTube series featuring Bryson DeChambeau with some of his mental game.
In the series, DeChambeau teams with another golfer in an effort to go as low as they can on any given course – ideally with a chance to break 50.
Sill simply put himself on DeChambeau’s team, at least in his mind.
“I just keep telling myself that I’m playing on his team and I’ve gotta help him,” Sill said. “Every time I get over a shot, I’ve got to help him. That puts me in the mindset of having to hit a good shot. It’s not ‘I can’t hit it here’, or ‘I can’t hit it there’, it’s ‘I’ve got to make birdie’. And I’ve been hitting some really good shots,” he said.
He sure did on the front nine on Sunday, making five birdies and going out in 31 to vault from four shots back into the lead.
“On the front, my ball striking was just really good,” Sill said. “I was hitting it close and making a lot of birdies.”
As good as some of his shots on the front side were on Sunday, some of the credit for Sill’s win has to go to his recovery from a bad one.
“On No. 5, I hit a bad tee shot, and I chipped it out of the woods into the fairway,” he explained. “From there I hit it to about three feet and saved par.”
Sill only made one birdie on the back on Sunday, but he made it when it mattered, picking up a crucial stroke on the field at No. 17.
“I hit three iron, then pitching wedge, and I almost made it,” he said. “I made the putt from about three and a half feet.”
That got Sill to 9-under on the day, and while Spybey and Wofford both had looks at birdies that would’ve gotten them to 8-under coming down the stretch, neither could convert to close the gap on Sill, who scrambled for a par at 18.
Sill said winning at the Upstate Amateur against a strong field was rewarding.
“It feels great,” he said. “I just kind of tell myself that I’m really just playing against me. As long as I can make some birdies out there and shoot some low scores, it should be ok.”
Patrick Stephenson, Ross Wright, Keegan Farmer, and Jackson Stone all tied for fourth at 5-under. Jack Boyer, Benjamin Sanders, and Carter Davis shared eighth place, rounding out the Top 10.
Scores from the Upstate Amateur played at Willow Creek
Categories: 2024 Golf Winners, Uncategorized, Upstate Amateur Golf
