Daniel Nisbet wins Players Amateur
Daniel Nisbet
BLUFFTON, S.C. (July 15, 2012) -- It wasn't exactly the way Daniel Nisbet wanted to win the Players Amateur, but it still counts.
Officially, the 21-year-old Australian won the title by one shot over University of Alabama junior Bobby Wyatt, although his victory margin likely would have been even more impressive if the final round hadn't been rained out and the scores reverted to 54 holes.
Nisbet opened with rounds of 69-66-70 and led Wyatt by one shot with an 11-under 205 entering the final round at Berkeley Hall Club's South Course, and the next-closest player, Auburn senior Michael Hebert, was another seven shots back. That seemingly set up a two-player race for the title Sunday, but Nisbet quickly turned it into a rout, extending his lead to six strokes through 10 holes Sunday. That's when thunderstorms struck the Lowcountry. When it was still raining more than 90 minutes later, Nisbet was declared the champion. And deservedly so.
While Wyatt struggled on the front nine, including back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 4 and 5, Nisbet made four birdies, including a chip-in from the fringe on the par-4 eighth hole. He is the second Australian to win the Players Am, joining 2004 champion Aron Price.
Nisbet will receive a sponsor exemption into the 2013 RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links on nearby Hilton Head Island as a reward for his Players Am title. He likely will do so as a professional, as he plans to attend PGA Tour Q-School later this year.
ABOUT THE
Players Amateur
While competing in the 1999 US Amateur
Championship at Pebble Beach, former US
Walker Cup
Team members, Duke Delcher and Tom
McKnight
discussed the formation of a premier 72-hole
stroke
play amateur golf tournament. The inaugural
Players
Amateur was held the next summer. Former
British
Open Champion, Ben Curtis, was the winner of
the
2000 event. In 2004, the Heritage Classic
Foundation
began running the event. The Heritage Classic
Foundation was formed in 1987 as a 501 (c) (3),
not-
for-profit organization, it serves as the
operational
and financial oversight group for the PGA Tour
RBC
Heritage Classic. The Foundation distributes all
charitable funds generated from the tournaments
to
charity. The winner of The Players Amateur gets
an
exemption into the PGA Tour RBC Heritage
Classic, as
well as the Master of the Amateurs tournament
in
Melbourne, Australia.
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