TJ Shuart victorious at Florida Amateur Match Play
2015 Florida Match Play winner TJ Shuart (FSGA photo)
JUPITER, Fla. — The championship match of the 25th Florida Amateur Match Play Championship was marked by excellent play as three of the first holes were won with birdies. TJ Shuart would take an early one up lead to the 9th hole. Two more birdies, as well as a few miscues from Michael DeMorat, would stretch the lead to four up through 14 holes – enough to make Shuart dormie. A birdie from DeMorat would stretch the match to the 16th hole, but a birdie there by Shuart would close the door on DeMorat. The 4 and 2 victory gives the Fort Lauderdale resident his third FSGA Championship.
Before reaching the Championship, more than 340 players attempted to qualify at one of six sites across the state. In the qualifying stage, players competed in 18 holes of stroke play in hopes of reaching the Championship at Turtle Creek Club. The Match Play Championship began with an 18-hole seeding round to seed the 64 player field. Single elimination match play followed to determine the Match Play Champion.
The semifinal matches began Sunday with the 25th seed Shuart against the 4th seed Rohan Ramnath. In the lower bracket 26 seed Cristian DiMarco would square off against 3 seed Michael DeMorat. Ramnath had Shuart in an early hole after a birdie-birdie start, but Shuart would recover to get it back to a 1 up lead by Ramnath on the 17th tee. A birdie-birdie close for Shuart advanced him to the finals.
In the other semifinal match, DeMorat had DiMarco on edge after winning the first four holes of the match. DiMarco was able to win the next two holes to cut the lead down to 2 up, but it proved to be insurmountable as DeMorat won 3 and 2.
View results for Florida Amateur Match Play
ABOUT THE
Florida Amateur Match Play
Prequalifying to determine a championship field of
64
players. 18 holes of stroke play to determine
seeding
for the match play bracket. Open to male amateur
golfers with a valid USGA handicap index not
exceeding
11.4. Must be a member of the FSGA.
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