Murray State University Athletics
Racers Perform Well At Irvin Cobb Amateur Championships
7/21/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
This time Michael Craft quit worrying about everyone else and quickly found he had little to worry about. Nobody was going to catch or pass him this time.
Shooting a record amateur division score, Craft turned in a professional-type performance with a 9-under par 133 on Sunday to win his first Pepsi/SuperValu Irvin Cobb Championships amateur title.
A final round 65, the best round of the tournament, ties him for the fourth-best final score ever at the Cobb and among a group of professionals. The previous best amateur score was 135 by Jimmy Brown (1984), Danny Green (1989) and Elmer Prieskorn (1942).
Professionals David McCampbell (1996) and Phillip Hatchett (1995) hold the tournament record at 130 and Russ Cochran shot a 132 (1999). Four other professionals have scored 133.
After settling for runner-up just last week as the Rolling Hills Invitational and last year, and a top ten finish in the high school state finals, Craft was just happy to be the winner for a change.
"It feels good to pull on through," said Craft, a recent Paducah Tilghman graduate who will play for Murray State's golf team this fall. "I did things a little different today. I'm usually wanting to know what everyone has (score) and today I just focused on what I had to do and it paid off.
"I just didn't worry about what anyone else was doing. It let me stay a little more calm. Going into the back (nine), I was 5-under and I heard there wasn't anything real good out there and I just tried to hit the middle of the green and two-putt."
By the back nine he had put plenty of distance between himself and the competition, a gap that never got closer. While his front nine was a little erratic with four birdies and two bogeys, he finished it at 2-under and four shots ahead of his nearest competitor.
With a birdie at the 10th hole, he was 6-under par for the tournament and just starting to have fun.
"I figured if I could get to five-under for my tournament score on the front, the back was playing a little easier and I thought I could get one or two on the back and see how that would go," said Craft.
He chased down the tournament record on the final four holes without really trying to. He sank a long birdie putt on the par-5, 15th hole, chipped in from off the green for birdie on the par-3, 17th hole, then finished the tournament dramatically with another long birdie putt on the par-5, 18th hole.
"When things are going like that, you just ride with it," he said. "I was just trying to lag it (his putt on 18) up there and it went in. I had a couple of them do that on the back. I was just trying to get up there close and they found the bottom of the hole. You know things are going right."
With Craft soaring ahead, few others were able to keep up the pace, including professional division winner Jamie Broce. A Hooters Tour player, he finished three shots behind Craft.
In the amateur division Jason Lancaster was a distant seven shots behind for second place. Lancaster went into the day two shots behind Craft, the first-round leader with a 68, but trailed by four shots at the turn.
MSU sophomore-to-be Josh Rhodes and Jeff Chandler were both a shot behind Craft after the first round, but Rhodes had a 36 and Chandler had a 38 on the front nine to drop out of contention. Rhodes played well enough on the back nine to tie with Buddy Bryant for third at 1-under 141 after Bryant turned in the second-best amateur round on Sunday with a 69.
NOTES: MSU's Jamie Frazier tied for 11th with a 71-76 = 147, while Will Cox tied for 22nd with a 73-76 = 149.
