Austin Perkins continues the youth movement and wins the Connecticut Amateur
Austin Perkins (Connecticut State Golf Association Photo) A long day that had started at 7 a.m. now reached the final two holes at Torrington Country Club. Austin Perkins had led by as many as 6 in the 36-hole championship match of the 122nd Connecticut Amateur presented by Middlesex Health, but was now trying to hold off Jack Chung.
Clinging to a two-up lead with two holes left, Perkins found the middle of the green on the par-3 17th. Meanwhile, Chung turned his tee shot to the left, leaving himself in short, rough terrain, facing a chip almost impossible on an elevated green.
Chung hit a good shot, but was still facing 30 feet for par. Needing to convert, Chung, who seemed to roll every second-round putt toward the center of the cup, nearly converted once again. However, when the putt simply slid past Austin Perkins, Chung cruised to a 3 and 1 victory and made history as the youngest player to capture the Connecticut Amateur.
“I’ve worked a lot on my game and a lot of it has gone unnoticed,” said 16-year-old Austin Perkins. “I started playing a little later than most kids, but I really knew that with hard work and dedication I could catch up quickly. And this was just the gratification of it all.”
In a battle between the two youngest players to reach the Connecticut Amateur Final, Perkins stormed out in the first round of 18, and when the front nine was in the books, Perkins had a 2-up lead. The highlight of his initial drive was a 25-foot slide for birdie on No. 6 that barely trickled into the bottom of the cup.
Fueled by a hot, flat illness during the first round, Perkins converted one clutch putt after another. See his putt on the 183-yard par-3 11th hole as Example A. With Perkins nearby, Chung, 3 down at this point, narrowly missed the green with his tee shot, and looked like he would have a hard time making par. .
Needing to make something happen, Chung chipped in for birdie and looked poised to steal a hole. Perkins had other ideas and made an eight-foot birdie shot to keep his lead. One hole later, he extended his lead with another birdie, this time from 20 feet on the par-5 12th.
With momentum completely on his side, Perkins continued to press the accelerator and thanks to wins at numbers 15 and 17 he led 6 as the first round came to a close.
“At the beginning of the match, I tried to stick to my process and get to the greens and focus on one shot at a time because in 36 holes, especially when you’re leading on the fifth or sixth hole, it’s very easy to think about what if? “Do I win today?” Perkins said. “But if you start thinking about that, you probably won’t win. Then once the putter started working, I was able to steal a few holes and then used that momentum to finish the first 18 strong.”
That momentum continued early in the second round when Perkins and Chung tied the first three holes, allowing the rising junior at Kingswood Oxford to maintain his 6-up lead.
Just when it seemed like Perkins was on cruise control, everything started to fall into place for 16-year-old Jack Chung. Needing to make something happen, Chung, who has played in the US Amateur and US Junior Amateur, made three straight birdies on Nos. 4-6 to, in the blink of an eye, move to 3 down. He then won the par 4 seventh with a par and suddenly the game was on as Perkins was suddenly only 2 up.
On the next hole, the 390-yard downhill par-4 eighth, it looked like Chung was going to get even closer. Chung missed the left fairway off the tee while Perkins found the middle of the fairway. Playing first on some of the deepest, most torn-up ground on the course, Chung made a remarkable shot to 12 feet. Searching for an answer to stem the tide, Perkins responded by launching his second shot from eight feet.
With tension beginning to rise as the crowd watching the match grew, Chung rolled the birdie putt down the middle for his fourth birdie in five holes. Desperately seeking to stop the bleeding, Perkins rolled in his biggest putt of the day on his birdie attempt to stay 2 up.
“I think the birdie on the 8th hole was my biggest putt of the match,” Perkins explained. “There is a huge difference between 2 up and 1 up. Honestly, I think if I missed that putt, it would have been an uphill climb for me and we definitely would have gone to the 18th hole or extras.”
With a boost of confidence, Perkins found his grove again. On the par-4 ninth, Perkins made a 30-foot birdie to take a 3-up lead with nine holes remaining and then, after holding his approach on the short par-4 10th to five feet, made a third consecutive birdie and pushed his advantage back to 4 up.
Chung, however, was going nowhere. A victory with a par on the 11th hole moved him to 3 under, where he remained until the 365-yard par-4 14th, when he drilled a 15-foot shot for birdie to move within 2 under with four holes remaining.
Now playing the 466-yard par-4 15th, both players were in good position after their drives. Chung, playing aggressively, was first to the green and sent his approach shot well over the putting surface. Perkins took a more conservative approach, leaving 20 feet for birdie.
At first glance, Chung appeared to be out of the hole, but he hit a wonderfully elevated third shot that landed softly and slid to within five feet. When Perkins missed his birdie putt and Chung converted, the lead was back to 2 down.
As the drama escalated and with the holes dwindling, next up was the 530-yard par-5 16th. Chung was struggling off the tee and was forced to make a layup. Finding the fairway off the tee, Perkins went for the green in two, but shot well left only to get a lucky bounce off a tree and into an ideal position on the fairway.
Playing quickly from a comfortable distance, Chung launched a perfectly struck corner to five feet, setting up a birdie attempt. Meanwhile, Perkins went long with his chip shot and when he missed his birdie putt, Chung had a chance to get as close as he had been all day.
After reading the putt from every angle, Chung, who had been turning out the lights all afternoon, surprisingly missed the birdie putt and both players left the green with Perkins still leading 2 with two holes left.
Now that the finish line was in sight, Perkins took full advantage and closed out the match.
“I knew Jack was going to come out firing at the beginning of the second round because that’s the player he is,” Perkins said. “But I tried to hold on and told myself to keep going and you can do it. He wasn’t thinking about ending the game early because he knew he was going to keep shooting. And honestly, at the end I didn’t really know if he was playing Jack or Tiger Woods. Honestly, at number 17 I thought he was just going to chip him. Fortunately he didn’t do it and I was able to win the match.”
Perkins not only won the match, but automatically qualified for the 124th U.S. Amateur tournament in August at Hazeltine National Golf Club.
“Qualifying for my first USGA event is huge, especially being a US amateur because there aren’t a lot of kids qualifying for it,” Perkins said. “Going to Minnesota is going to be fantastic. There are still almost two months to go, so I have a lot of time to prepare because I know the golf course will be well prepared, but I am very excited.”
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