After two years of rain and lightning, the 99th Crump Cup dialed up an incredible week of weather that culminated in a day that felt more like July than September. 

As Jimmy Ellis and Andrew Price headed to the first tee to decide who would win the 99th Crump Cup, Pine Valley was baking out, and the wind was picking up. 

Ellis was playing in his second championship match in three years. He lost to Stephen Behr Jr. in the final in 2022. In 2023 there was no match play because of Tropical Storm Ophelia. That means heading into the championship match, Ellis had a match play record of 6-1 over the last two Crump Cups. Two of those six wins came against Stewart Hagestad. In the 2022 semi-final, Ellis got the best of Hagestad in 19 holes. 

This year, Ellis rode a wave of birdies on hole Nos. 15-17 to turn a 2-down deficit into a 1-up victory over Hagestad.

Price arrived in the final after beating Evan Beck, Matthew McClean, and Brad Tilley. Beck and McClean are both U.S. Mid-Am players and Tilley was the No. 1 seed, having shot 141 in the 36-hole qualifying. 

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The match started with both players hitting the first fairway and knocking their shots onto the green.

Price’s approach on the tough opener to a back left pin left him with a birdie putt of about 20 feet. Ellis hit his approach to 35 feet. Ellis would misread the putt and end up with 6 feet for par. 

Dan Horner was following the match, he had lost in the semi-final of the 3rd flight, but he can’t get enough of the course. 

“This is a non-negotiable on my calendar every year,” he said.

Even after 15 Crump Cups, Pine Valley always provides a new challenge.

“There are some pins today that I’ve never seen,” he said as he pointed at the first green. “That’s a new one. And some are on slopes that are just a little steeper than normal.”

The match felt like it had three different acts. The opening act came in the first six holes. Ellis’ bogey on the first might have stuck with him throughout the round, as putts just didn’t seem to fall, even as he continued to hit solid approach shots into the greens. 

Ellis would miss a slippery downhill 6-foot birdie putt on the second hole. Price made a steady par, and the duel would remain 1-up in favor of Price after the two players made par on the par-3 third. The tee was forward, turning the 198 yard hole into a 155 yard shot to the front left pin. 

Front pins were tough to fire at due to the firm conditions and swirling wind. 

On the fourth, which returns back to the clubhouse, Ellis hit his tee shot a little left and it scurried into the rough and behind a tree. It was the first time Ellis would be stymied after an errant tee shot, but it wouldn’t be the last. 

From 226 yards he managed to get his ball over the cross hazard and about 20 yards short of the green. Price, playing from a familiar place - the middle of the fairway - hit his approach to 20 feet. He might admit that the shot was right of his intended target, as the 216 yard shot did not call for him to fire at the front right pin. 

Price didn’t get a chance to hit his birdie putt, as Ellis missed a 30-foot par putt and conceded the hole.

This is the point of the match when the crowds grow. Players and staff wait for the match to come back around to the 5th tee, the last time the routing returns to the clubhouse until the 18th hole. 

The fifth hole, one of the hardest par 3s in golf, relinquished two pars after Price and Ellis both hit penetrating long irons onto the putting surface and safely lagged to gimme range. 

With Price 2-up, Ellis hit his tee shot on the cape-style sixth hole a little too far right. It bounced into a deep bunker that protects the dogleg. He had to blast out and hope a good wedge could save par. Price sat on the laft edge of the fairway. A row of small pines obstructed his angle to the flag. 

“I had to draw a 9-iron around the trees,” Price said. 

Price’s ball clipped a tree but landed on the right side of the green; the draw spin and the green’s slope carried the ball into the middle of the green to about 35 feet.

The first act of the match was coming to a close.  

Ellis hit a superb wedge into the left pin and it slowly rode the slope to about three feet. It appeared Ellis was going to escape the devilish 6th still 2-down. Price had other thoughts, he poured in his birdie putt, the longest putt either player made that afternoon. 

Price was 3-up through six. A 3 putt and two wayward drives had left Ellis in a tough position with 12 holes remaining. 

When Ellis nailed a 10 foot birdie putt on the par-5 seventh, it looked like the guy that shot 61 in the second round of the U.S. Amateur might show up and run off a couple birdies in quick succession. 

It felt even more like that when Ellis hit a flighted wedge into the thimble-sized 8th green. Price had hit every green, but his wedge on 7, which spun up in the wind was followed by another nervy wedge into the 8th. While both shots ended up on the green, they left him lengthy birdie putts.

Price demonstrated excellent speed-control throughout the round. He rolled his long putt on 8 to inside Ellis’ circle of friendship. That set the stage for a big moment. Ellis had about 8 feet for birdie, but it was another slippery putt. Just like on the second hole, Ellis watched his ball slide past the hole. 

An opportunity gone and the momentum, for now, seemed like it was in neutral. 

After both players hit the ninth fairway, Ellis played first and lost his long iron out to the right. That allowed Price to play to the middle of the green. For the third time on the front nine, Ellis found himself in jail. A flop shot couldn’t hold the green, and when a deft chip shot from the back of the green didn’t fall for par, Ellis told Price to pick up his ball marker. 

After nine holes, Price led 3-up, and he had two birdie putts of more than 20 feet conceded. Price hit every green on the front nine and was relentlessly consistent. 

The second act seemed to be going in Price’s favor, too. He managed to avoid an Ellis hot streak.

The tenth is a 161-yard par 3. The flag was tucked in the front right corner, behind a bunker known as the Devil’s Asshole. Price went back and forth about what club to hit as the elevated tee box can make the wind feel different every five seconds. He couldn’t commit and missed the shot to the right. He missed the famous bunker, but landed in the long bunker that runs along the right side of the green. Ellis knocked his shot pin high on the left side of the green. He knew how tough the 50 foot putt would be as he walked off the tee box. 

Price was in his first spot of bother. He had a mound behind his ball, so he was forced to bunt his ball with the back of an iron about 20 feet. Ellis hit an impressive lag putt and Price couldn’t hole his bunker shot for par. 

Price’s lead was back to 2-up.

As Ellis’ caddie walked off the green, he said, “I love when the greens are like this. You can break out the trick putts.” Ellis played about 10 feet of break to get his ball to within a foot of the green. 

The middle of the match was a series of missed opportunities. For Ellis, he had a great look on the 8th and then another one on the 11th after a short iron to about 12 feet. He left the 12 foot putt about five feet short;  it didn’t carry the speed he thought it would. They would split the hole with pars and head to the short 12th, an incredible par 4 that Ellis tried to reach off the tee. His ball just got caught up in the grass short of the green. A foot longer and he might have an eagle putt. A foot shorter and he has a tricky bunker shot. 

Price hit an excellent wedge to five feet. At this point in the day, wedges needed about 20 feet to bounce before grabbing the green. Ellis hit an exquisite pitch shot to 10 feet, but he left the birdie putt on the lip. Price watched a second birdie putt roll into the hole. The lead was back to 3-up.

Now it was time for Price to feel the sting of missed opportunities. The 13th was playing into a stiff wind. Ellis’ tee shot ended up under a tree and he had to punch out.

Advantage Price. 

However, after looking so steady all day, Price pulled his long iron and watched it land hard on the green and bound over the back. Ellis hit a solid 160-yard shot to about 15 feet. 

Price needed four shots, including three putts, to finish the hole from the back of the green. After 12 holes of bogey-free golf, Price gave away the 13th to a bogey, as Ellis missed his par putt but shrunk the lead to 2-up. 

"The greens are so firm, and you have to be precise and play to the fat part of the green," Price said after the round. "It is hard because the pins are so tucked, you can't take them all on."

Momentum is a funny thing, and when a player wins a hole and then grabs the tee on a par 3, things can happen quickly. Ellis hit an outstanding shot into the 210 yard par 3. He had about 20 feet for birdie. Price, maybe feeling the weight of a late lead in the Crump Cup and the wear and tear of the long week, hit his worst shot of the day. His ball landed in the sand short and right of the green. The one-handed finish and downward gaze made it seem like the match was still very much in the balance. 

Price couldn’t hit his sand shot inside Ellis, and when the par putt missed, Ellis picked up his ball and headed to the 15th hole only down 1 hole. 

As the crowd continued to swell with staff, players, and club members, the pressure was building. 

Four holes remained and it felt like the match had reached it’s third act. Ellis bombed his drive about 30 yards past Price. 

Price hit his layup safely into the middle of the fairway. 

The 15th hole marked the turning point for Ellis in his semi-final match against Hagestad. It’s a 615 yard par 5. To hit and hold the green in two shots is a Herculean task. Ellis was in position to complete the feat twice in one day. 

He pulled his trusty 3-iron, a club he used off the tee frequently because he can hit it 250+ yards. In the morning he hit a 5-wood to 20 feet.

It felt like a pivotal shot. Price was 130 yards from the green in two shots, and now Ellis was about to pull the trigger on a 3 iron that could leave him an easy two-putt birdie. 

You can’t miss right. 

Ellis missed right.

His ball ended up in a grass mound in a bunker well below the green. He was also short-sided. He could only advance it 15 feet and had to splash out of the bunker to 20 feet for his fourth. 

“It’s tough from down there,” Ellis said as he climbed up to the green. 

He couldn’t make his putt, and Price made par and grabbed the match in both hands.

Price did what he did the majority of day on 16 and 17. He hit the fairway. He hit the green. He two-putted.

In the end, he won 2&1 for his first Crump Cup win in his ninth try.  

"Everybody is just so darn good," Price said after the round. "Honestly, it's such a stacked field, and to come out on top, you have to get a little bit lucky while also playing well and getting yourself through stroke play and into the championship flight."

Pine Valley is always a character in these matches because it’s such a hard course. But Ellis’ skill wasn’t lost on Price.

"He is such a good player, and he is playing so well this year," Price said about Ellis. "I just tried to play smart and got up a few holes early and tried to force him to make some birdies which is hard to do around here.”

Price is mild-mannered on and off the course. He never got too high or low as he battled Ellis and among his peers after the victory, it would have been hard to pick out the winner aside from the trophy in his hand. Price will head to Kinloch for the U.S. Mid-Amateur with hopes of recording a trio of victories now that he has the Illinois Mid-Amateur and Crump Cup in his possession this year.

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