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By Stan Olenik
For HOMETOWN NEWS
MJ Mcguire of St Petersburg, Florida won the 2009 Bobby Chapman Junior Invitational championship with a birdie on the first sudden death playoff hole. McGuire topped first round leader Austin Cody of North Charleston for the championship.
“It is great for my confidence to win such a prestigious tournament,” said the 16-year old Florida golfer.
Mcguire joins a list of champions that includes 2009 US Open winner Lucas Glover, who won the first Chapman Invitational in 1995.
The new champion had to come from two strokes off the pace in the final round and then survived the sudden-death playoff for the win.
Mcguire started the final round trailing Charleston’s Austin Cody for the lead. Cody fired a six under-par round of 65 to open the 36-hole championship.
While the future Duke golfer’s putting helped him take the first round lead it was his putter that cost him a chance to win the event.
“There is no excuse for missing two three-footers, that is what cost me the tournament,” said Cody.
Mcguire was able to catch Cody with a 20-foot birdie putt on the fifth hole. The St. Pete junior benefited from a pair of bogeys by Cody on the sixth and ninth hole to take a two shot lead at the turn.
“When I made that birdie on number five I was putting really well. I thought if I could keep that going until the end I could win,” said Mcguire.
After nearly holing his approach shot on the sixteenth hole, Cody missed his second three-footer of the afternoon allowing Mcguire to again take a two shot lead with just two holes to play.
“I wasn’t going to give up. I needed to go birdie, birdie,” said Cody.
Mcguire’s tee shot on the par-5 seventeenth hole missed the fairway and landed well off the fairway in a wooded area.
Mcguire was forced to punch out to set up his approach to the green. The tournament leader hit a six iron just over the pin and appeared to be in position to save par. However, he missed his par putt and then missed again from five feet for a double.
Cody made a birdie on the hole sending both golfers to the eighteenth tee box tied.
Mcguire again missed the fairway with his tee shot but was able to hit his second shot to the green.
“The driver saved me most of the weekend, but it deserted me on the last two holes,” said Mcguire.
Cody had an opportunity to win the tournament with a 10 foot birdie putt on the final hole but the ball slid past the cup while McGuire needed a tricky five-footer to send the tournament into extra holes.
On the first playoff hole Mcguire’s trusted his swing and his driver and split the fairway.
“I knew I could hit a good drive. Usually the less I think about it the better I do so I just hit it,” he said.
Mcguire’s second shot flew over the pin but spun back to within four-feet of the hole.
Cody could not convert his birdie putt and had to watch as Mcguire sealed the win with another short putt on the eighteenth green.
The victory goes along with a Future Masters championship Mcguire won two years ago. The win also comes at an important time for the high school junior as he hopes to have a chance to play college golf.
“I’ve started to get some letters and I’m looking around for college opportunities and see how I fit with them. This win certainly gives me confidence and hopefully opens some doors,” concluded the champion.
Payne McLeod of Reidsville, North Carolina was third. Ben Fogler of Elgin tied for fifth place. The top Upstate golfer in the tournament was Cody Taylor of Greer who finished sixteenth.
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