July 13, 2012
NEWRY, ME -- Incoming ODU freshman signee Seth Sweet (Madison Area Memorial High School) fired a final round 7-over par 79 for a 219, 3-over par total to win the Maine Amateur Golf Championship. Sweet shot 70-70-79=219.
Sweet, the third youngest player to win the Amateur, held off rallies by JJ Harris (Bath, MD) and Ricky Jones (Thomaston) to win the event at the Sunday River Golf Club Thursday. They both finished at 222, three strokes back.
"I'm extremely happy. I worked a lot, and it's nice to see it pay off. I knew I could grind it out enough to keep it in play and protect the lead. They each madea heck of a run," Sweet said.
Sweet opened the day with a six-stroke lead over Harris and a nine-stroke lead over Jones. By the 17th tee, that cushion had nearly evaporated. Jones parred the the 163-yard par 3 16th. Sweet's tee shot went into the bunker to the right of the green, and he double bogeyed the hole. After avoiding double bogeys the first two days, this was Sweet's second double bogey of the day. The first came on the first hole.
Sweet bogeyed 17, as did Harris, and Jones was within two with the tricky 443-yard downhill dogleg left par-4 18th to go. Out of bounds hugs the right side and bunkers sit on the outside edge of the elbow.
Jones, teeing first, hit into one of the bunkers, but he had a decent lie. Harris had a nearly perfect lie on the same line as Jones but on the right side of the fairway. Sweet, hitting last, was in the center of the fairway but farther back than he would have liked.
The left half of the green, where the pin was Thursday, is protected by a water hazard. Harris hit over that and rolled up to the level the pin was on, while Sweet and Jones ended up on the front right portion of the green, a long way and downhill from the cup.Jones hammered his putt first, getting up to the top level, but just barely.
Harris two-putted for par, and Jones took two more putts and made bogey.That only left Sweet to roll the ball in to complete the win for the future Monarch.