Finishing with three consecutive birdies at Hillview CC, Ted
Smith slowly cut Tim Miller’s lead down to nothing and forced a playoff for the
IGA Senior Amateur Championship. And three playoff holes later Smith sunk a
33-foot putt to make birdie and take home his first Senior Am victory since
2001. “It’s been a long time since I’ve won this. I’m almost 65 years old, and
it’s nice to have a chance to win it one last time,” said Smith, who carded
69-68=137.
Miller, who fired 67 the first day to start the final round
with a 2-shot lead over Smith, opened with a birdie to increase the lead to 3,
made an up-and-down from the sand at hole 2 to go to 3 up, and then made an
18-footer at the 6th to create his largest lead of the day. Smith’s
birdie at the 2nd was alone on his scorecard until the 16th.
That’s where he landed his approach to three feet and made the birdie putt.
Smith made another birdie putt at 17 and knocked his approach to six feet on 18
to give himself a chance at the tie. “It was a downhill left-to-right putt, and
those are my favorite to have,” explained Smith.
It took three playoff holes before Smith made another birdie
putt to end the day. “It actually wasn’t my putting, it was the up-and-downs
today. Normally I wouldn’t have been able to get all those up and down, but I
sure did today,” said Smith. Whether it was the chipping or the putting, it was
all working well for him when it counted.
Mike Stephens remained in contention all day, but a second
shot into the trees at the par-5 18th followed by a pitch left too short took
him out of it. He finished in third at 67-71=138.
See full results here.