Adam Mitchell
wins 50th Porter Cup Championship
By Jonah
Bronstein
Michael Vitch drove up to a curious threesome on the ninth tee box.
“How’s it looking?,” he was asked.
“It’s looking great,” said Vitch, one of the Assistant Directors for
this year’s Porter Cup golf tournament, “We’re going to get this
whole thing in.”
“Perfect,” Adam Mitchell responded.
Only the rain Saturday could’ve kept Mitchell from becoming the 50th
Porter Cup champion.
Bill
Harvey, the fifth Porter Cup champion, presented Mitchell with his
green jacket shortly before dusk after the 21-year-old from
Chattanooga, Tennessee posted a four-round total of 270, 10 shots
under par, at Niagara Falls Country Club to win the prestigious
tournament by three strokes over Zack Sucher, 21, a Mobile, Ala.
native ranked 15th in the world among amateurs.
“Overall, it was a fun week, and it was great to be here with
friends and a great tournament host,” said Mitchell, a senior on the
University at Georgia golf team.
“This is a great tournament. It’s the 50th anniversary. That’s cool.
A lot of my friends are up here playing. And the casino is nearby.”
Mitchell led for most of the weather-plagued tournament. He shot an
8-under 62 on Wednesday, the best score of the week, and after rain
forced postponement of Thursday’s second round to Friday morning, he
shot a 66 to get to 12-under.
Mitchell might’ve ran away from the field — like his Georgia
teammate Brian Harman did last year — if not for a third-round 73 on
Friday afternoon that he partly blamed on fatigue.
Sucher
shot 66 in the third round to pull even with Mitchell at 9-under,
setting up a Saturday’s final round showdown that almost didn’t
happen.
Before the final group --- which also included Wesley Bryan, an
18-year-old freshman from Chapin, S.C., --- could tee off Saturday,
NFCC was grazed by a storm that produced just ten minutes of rain,
but delayed play for nearly two hours.
Bryan, Sucher and Mitchell went out and alternated birdies on the
first three holes before being summoned to the clubhouse when
thunder was heard in the distance.
Organizers anxiously read radar reports and consulted with NFCC
member Bill Curtis, a commercial airplane pilot, to determine
whether the final group would be able to finish its round before
dark, or if arrangements needed to be made to finish the tournament
Sunday.
Players returned to the course just before 3:30 p.m., beneath a few
dark clouds that seemed to indicated another rain delay on the
horizon.
“We’re either going to get Noah’s Ark, or nothing,” club member P.J.
Alterio said.
“I was looking at the radar and everybody said after two or three
holes we’d be right back in,” Sucher said.
Upon their return, Sucher and Mitchell were tied at 10-under. Both
players overestimated the speed of the green on the fourth hole, a
196-yard par three 3, and left their first putts short. Since
Mitchell was able to put his tee shot on the green, and Sucher
wasn’t, he regained the lead by one stroke.
Mitchell then birdied the next hole to build a two-shot l ead that
he held until the turn.
Sucher got within one stroke on the 10th hole, when Mitchell lipped
out a short par putt and made bogey.
“I lost my concentration,” Mitchell said.
Sucher could’ve pulled into a tie for the lead after a booming
drive, but his approach shot left him a long birdie putt he did not
make.
Mitchell birdied the 11th hole for the fourth time this week, and
made another birdie on 12 to get 13-under and build a three-shot
lead.
The tournament was effectively decided on the 13th hole when Sucher
took a double-bogey while Mitchell made par.
Sucher
found himself on the back of the green for his fourth shot, and
didn’t realize his ball was sitting atop a tree root.
“A full-swing flop shot is not going to be good if you’re sitting on
top of a root,” he said. “I didn’t see it at all.”
Sucher also lipped out a short putt on the hole, which put him five
shots behind Mitchell.
Mitchell did bogey three of the final five holes, giving Sucher a
slight chance to come back.
“We could’ve made it a decent tournament,” Sucher said. “I had two
good putts on 15 and 16 that lipped out high side.”
Mitchell admitted he was “pretty nervous” down the stretch, in
position to win for the first time since 2004, when he shot a
course-record 60 to claim the Bubba Conlee Junior Championship.
Not everything went according to Mitchell’s plans Saturday. A
surprise visit from his father, Jim, gave him an unexpected caddy,
and more than three hours of rain delays prevented him from catching
a flight to New York City to see his girlfriend.
Mitchell said she’ll understand.
“This
is my career highlight,” he said.
