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Brad Tilley Wins WGA Championship
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June 3, 2005
By KEVIN DEVANEY JR.
kdevaney@gannett.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS
SCARSDALE — There was one talent that until yesterday Brad Tilley wasn’t able to put on display this week at the Westchester Golf Association Amateur Championship, mainly because he dominated every match.
In yesterday’s 36-hole match-play final, the Sleepy Hollow member showcased something that dwarfed his ball-striking abilities and outshone his extraordinary bogey-free stretch.
Tilley demonstrated just what kind of competitor he can be.
The Chappaqua native withstood a barrage of late charges from Ricky Hayes and beat the underdog from Salem Country Club 4 and 2 at Sunningdale Country Club for his first Amateur title.
“It was really a battle all day,” said Tilley, who’ll be a senior at Virginia. “We were just back and forth the whole time. To me, that’s about as fun as it gets.”
Tilley, 22, capped a stellar week with a par on the 16th hole to clinch the title. Aside from the morning round, he didn’t see 17 or 18 all week. He finished the week 16-under par through six rounds and went 50 holes without a bogey.
Hayes, who recently finished his freshman year at Colgate, struggled through the morning round but played some of his best golf of the week in the afternoon. Tilley just didn’t let him get rewarded for it.
“It seemed like every time I’d make a birdie, he’d go and make one too,” Hayes said. “I couldn’t really gain anything on him. He’d give me an opportunity, but then he’d come right back and take it away.”
Tilley, despite having trouble reading the greens, was 3-up after the first 18 before Hayes won the fourth and fifth holes of the afternoon round to cut it to one. Tilley rebounded, draining a 4-footer on the sixth for par and an 18-footer on the par-3 eighth for birdie to push the lead back to three.
That was pretty much the theme of the day. Of the five holes Hayes won in the afternoon, Tilley squashed his momentum by winning the next hole on three of them.
“Every time I did something, he was right there,” Hayes said. “He didn’t let me go anywhere and kept putting pressure on me.”
Of the few mistakes Hayes made in the afternoon, the one on the par-4 14th hurt the most. He missed the fairway and, in an attempt to get the ball out of thick rough, knocked his approach shot over the green. He ended up losing the hole and, shortly thereafter, the match.
“The hole has caused me problems all week,” he said. “I hit the fairway once and missed every other time no matter what club I’d hit. I don’t know what it is about that hole. Losing there was the turning point.”
The title is just another reason to believe Tilley is primed for a tremendous summer. He recently shot a career-low 65, finished third at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament last month, tied for 16th at the NCAA Eastern Regional last week, and won this week with relative ease.
“My ball-striking right now is superb and I’m feeling confident about my game,” said Tilley, who lost in the WGA Amateur semifinals last year. “I’ve improved a lot during the school year. Right now I expect to go out and win every tournament. I really trust my game, and I’m letting all the hard work I’ve put in pay off.”
Coming into the match, the pressure was clearly on Tilley. Hayes was a relative unknown entering the 32-golfer field when match play began on Tuesday. He trailed in every match after the opening round.
“I expected to win a few matches,” Hayes said. “But getting to the finals? That was incredible. Coming out today, I knew it was going to be a tough match and I was clearly the underdog. I love that.”
Shawn McLoughlin of Ridgewood defeated Ken Harrison of Orange County 4 and 3 in the Senior Amateur Championship. In the Super Senior bracket, Ray Darmstadt Jr. edged Winged Foot playing partner Hank Malfa 3 and 2.
This article can be found at:The Journal News