BOYNE FALLS – Traverse City’s Alex Scott shot the best round of his life Wednesday tying the course and Tournament of Champions record with an 11-under 61, and then had to win a sudden-death playoff with Mackenzie Tour PGA-Canada professional Sam Weatherhead of Grand Rapids for the eventual title.
The Grand Valley State University golfer did that too – with a birdie on the second playoff hole at the Alpine course – and became the first amateur to win in 27 years of the Tournament of Champions at Boyne Mountain Resort.
Scott’s 61 left him at 15-under 201 for the tournament, and Weatherhead dropped a 30-foot birdie putt at No. 18 to shoot 68 for 201 and force the playoff.
Weatherhead, headed to Web.com qualifying in the fall, netted the first-place check of $8,000 as the low pro in the championship. Scott took home the trophy and a $750 gift certificate, the most allowed for amateurs under the rules of golf.
Scott, who started the final round on the Alpine course eight shots off the lead of Eric Lilleboe of Okemos, birdied the first two holes, had a tap-in eagle that was almost a double-eagle on No. 5 and shot 6-under 30 on the front nine. He wasn’t finished. He followed it up with another eagle-3 on the par 5 No. 12 hole with a 60-foot putt to highlight a 31 on the back nine.
“I knew a low score was coming,” said Scott, who will be a senior at Grand Valley this fall and is playing in the upcoming U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach.
“I’ve been talking with my dad and we knew it was coming,” he said. “I needed to shoot a low score in a tournament, one of those where you know early you are going low and everything keeps going in. I didn’t expect 61. I’ve never done that before.”
Lilleboe, a 30-year-old mini-tour pro, shot 70 to close at 214, just missing a final eagle putt at No. 18 in regulation play that would have put him in the playoff, too.
Michigan Open champion Jake Kneen of White Lake, the recent Oakland University graduate who with Scott is making this the year of the amateurs in Michigan golf, shot 67 for 206 and fourth place, and Meadowbrook Country Club assistant Travis Dodson shot 69 for 208 and fifth.
Scott, a Golf Association of Michigan Champion last summer and the GLIAC Golfer of the Year during school, said it was hard to put into words how he felt winning the unique championship that brings together juniors, seniors, professionals and amateurs of both sexes all playing for one title from different tee positions. All the golfers invited have won selected significant Michigan golf championships, both amateur and professional.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “There are so many great players in the field. It wasn’t realistic to think I would shoot 61 today. The odds say I couldn’t do because I never have done it before. My lowest before this was a 64 in qualifying at college. But I did it. It’s a good feeling.”
By Greg Johnson
