LEWISTON — Chase Nevins had to battle until his final putt, even when it seemed like he couldn’t lose.
Heading into the final hole of the 65th Porter Cup at Niagara Falls Country Club, the Vanderbilt golfer and Virginia native was deadlocked with Tonawanda resident and Canisius’ Ryan Edholm, just as they started the.
Edholm took the lead in the tournament after bombing an eagle on the 10th hole, just before Nevins sank a putt for birdie. A bogey by Edholm on 13th tied the pair and they started going shot for shot while pulling away from the rest of the field.
But when Nevins dropped a ball 18 feet from the cup on 18 with an 8 iron from 195 yards out, Edholm’s ball sailed past the hole and the only reason it didn’t roll into the street was because it hit a fan, who yelled, “You’re welcome Tonawanda fans!”
Edholm still came close to knocking it in to force a playoff, but Nevins was able to putt for par to capture the championship Saturday with an 11-over-par 269, his first win since the 2022 American Junior Golf Association championship.
“Being under the gun for that long, being how tight it was for such a while, I just feel a lot more calm now,” Nivens said.
Edholm came into the day with confidence, one of three players two strokes off the lead behind Charlie Bundy and Carter Loflin. Bundy had two bogeys on the front nine and Loflin had four, opening the door a little wider for Edholm, who went mistake-free on his first 12 holes, extending a run of just one bogey over the course of 49 holes.
Both Edholm and Nevins bogeyed 17 for the first time in the tournament, and Edholm had not shot worse than par on 18 in the first three rounds, using a 5 iron with the tees up. The tees were back Saturday and Edholm switched to a 6 and the ball sailed.
“I thought it went into the bunker and I saw people behind the green scrambling around,” Edholm said. “I was like, ‘There’s no way it could’ve gone that far.’ But it did.”
Edholm nearly chipped the ball into the cup on his next shot to set up an 8-foot putt to save par. Nevins missed an 18-footer that would have won the tournament, but Edholm didn’t feel good when he made contact with the ball and rolled past the cup. “I’d love to have that one back,” said Edholm, who tied for 18th at the MAAC Championships in April. “That’s what you practice for and that’s what you want. You want to be in that position and it just stinks that it didn’t go my way today.”
Edholm ended up shooting 1 under for the day and 10 under for the tournament, while Nevins shot 2 under in the final round in what was a whacky tournament for him. Nevins started by scorching the course for a 62 in the opening round, but was even in the second round and 1 under in the third round.
Nevins had done just enough to stay in the hunt in the middle two rounds and got some help when Bundy and Loflin shot 5 over in the final round. He bogeyed the eighth and ninth holes, but felt it was a win when he saved double-bogeys on both holes and felt that was the turning point, starting the back nine with two birdies on the first three holes.
Ultimately, Nevins did just enough to hold off Edholm, Garrett Engle and Noah Kent, who finished in a three-way tie for second. Engle came into the day four strokes back and birdied 11, 13 and 14 to climb into a tie for the lead, but bogeyed 16 and wasn’t able to make up for it finish as a runner-up for the second time in three years.
“I got a little cold in the middle (of the tournament),” Nevins said. “I checked the leaderboard when I made the turn. I saved bogey on eight and nine and I think that was the turning point of the day for me. … The pressure’s not the same when you’re in a match-play style like that and you give up too many shots.”
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