University Southern California Trojans
Nick Jones Wins California Amateur Golf Championship
July 24, 2000 | Men's Golf
July 24, 2000
Seaside, Calif. - USC's Nick Jones isn't sure he knows all the words to his school's famed fight song, but he understands what the spirit of "Fight On" is all about.
The 21-year-old Jones, who live in Carlsbad and will be a senior at USC this fall, fought back from a 2-hole deficit with nine to play, finally rolling in a 15-foot birdie putt on the last hole to defeat 19-year-old Troy McKinley of Danville, 2 up, in their 36-hole championship match on Saturday (July 22).
The win extended Southern California's domination in the nation's toughest state amateur championship during the past two decades. Jones is the seventh consecutive triumph by a SCGA member the 11th in the past 13 years. The only Northern Californian to win since 1987 has been Casey Boyns in 1989 and 1993. Jones also became the first USC Trojan to win the title since Sam Randolph in 1985.
In a match that featured more grit than greatness, Jones and McKinley managed only four birdies between them during the match, which began under cold, damp, foggy conditions this morning and ended in a blaze of brilliant sunshine.
But Jones made two of those birdies on the back nine in the afternoon, which he began staring at a 2-down deficit as he and McKinley prepared to hit their drives on the 504-yard, par-five 10th hole.
"I knew I was in a hole," Jones said afterward. "You have to wonder whether you're going to get it done. But I just tried to stay with the game plan that I began the day with: to play solid golf and try to put as much pressure on Troy as was possible."
The comeback began on the 10th as Jones pitched his third shot to within a foot of the hole. McKinley had pushed his drive to the right behind one of the thousands of trees that line the Bayonet and Black Horse Golf Courses. He hit a tree with his second shot, then nuked a four wood and ran it through the green, from where he could make no better than 5.
On a course originally built as an army base, that hole proved to be the beginning army golf for McKinley off of the tee (left, right, left, right . . . or, in this case, right, left, right, left) and the stretch of holes No. 11-15 known as "Combat Corner" were to play a pivotal role in the match.
McKinley pulled his tee shot left on the 423-yard, par four 11th hole and, although he got a good break when he was able to drop away from a terrible lie because his stance was on a cart path, he ended up missing a four-foot par putt that lipped out on the left.
McKinley was left in the trees again on the 388-yard, par-four 12th, but escaped with a par thanks to a great great third-shot pitch to within six inches of the hole.
Then on the 471-yard, par-four 13th, McKinley drove wide right into a dirt patch, dribbled a driver under the trees to 130 yards from the green, pitched to 25 feet from the flagstick and two-putted for bogey.
Jones could not capitalize on either opportunity. On the 13th, his drive found the left rough and his second shot ended up right of the green in a nasty lie.
"That was actually my target," Jones would say later. "You have to avoid the problems on the left at all costs. The ball just didn't turn over." He hit a fine pitch to within 10 feet of the cup but could not convert the putt.
However, Jones finally regained the lead on the 209-yard, par-three 14th when McKinney's tee shot found the right greenside bunker and he could not get up and down for par. Jones won the 14th in both the morning and afternoon portions of the match.
The 428-yard, par-four 15th proved to be a pivotal point in the match and was also a quintessential example of the back-and-forth nature of match play. Jones, driving first, hit his tee ball into the left rough, next to a tree and with virtually no place to go. McKinley's drive was also left, under overhanging tree limbs and his path to the green was blocked by several trees.
Jones tried to extricate himself from his poor lie and failed, advancing the ball only about 10 yards, and his third shot -- again, stymied by trees -- ended up 80 yards short of the green. McKinley punched out to 50 yards short of the green and appeared to be in command. But Jones answered with an L wedge that nearly flew in the hole, finishing three inches from the cup for a gimme bogey. McKinley, whose strong short game helped him overcome a balky putter all day, saw his wedge shot pull back to 13 feet short of the cup and his par putt lipped out on the right side.
The significance of that escape for Jones was magnified on the next hole when Jones failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker, but McKinley's win only squared the match rather than giving him the lead. That set the stage for the 188-yard, downhill, par-three 17th.
McKinley's tee shot into a stiff breeze was in the center of the green, 20 feet from the hole. Jones, in his word, "absolutely nuked a four iron" that bounced over the green into the back bunker. Jones exploded to within five feet of the hole only to see McKinley leave his putt six feet short. After McKinley slid his putt past the cup on the right side, Jones calmly drained his for the par that would give him a 1-up lead heading into the finishing hole.
"The putter was shaking going back," he said, "but I poured it into the heart of the cup."
For McKinley, it was one missed putt too many.
"I had absolutely no confidence out there all day with the putter," he would say later, nearly in tears. "I don't know whether it was me, the pin placements or what, but I just didn't feel comfortable at any time in the match."
McKinley had one more hole to create a miracle, but it was not to be. Both players were about 80 yards short of the green on the 552-yard hole with their second shots. Jones, hitting first, dropped his approach 15 feet left of the flagstick while McKinley's slightly mishit pitching wedge ended 20 feet away on virtually the same line. After McKinley's birdie attempt rolled past the cup, Jones drained his 15-footer to claim the match.
"He had a chance to put me away," admitted Jones later. "His strategy all day was to be aggressive and it worked early on. It just caught up with him at the end."
McKinley had only one birdie for the day and it came on the par-5 first hole in the afternoon to square the match. He took a 1-up lead with a par on the third hole, lost it on the next hole, then won the seventh and ninth holes with par-4s to take a 2-up lead into the back nine.
There was only birdie in the morning round, Jones hit a seven iron an inch from the hole on the 438-yard, par-4 second hole to take an early 1-up lead. Jones never trailed in the morning, although McKinley twice squared the match. Jones got to 2 up on the par-three 14th hole when he pitched over a bunker from 25 yards short of the green and sank a 20-foot par putt. McKinley, who was over the green with his tee shot, missed a 10-footer. However, on the 428-yard, par-four 15th, McKinley drew to within one hole when Jones three-putted from 50 feet.
McKinley twice had chances to draw even, missing a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 16 (after which Jones made a four footer for a halve) and then missing an eight-foot birdie putt on the 188-yard, par-three 17th.
Afterwards, reflecting on the significance of his win, Jones said, "When we were taking pictures of the trophy between rounds, I stopped to read all of the great names that are there. I'm honored to join that list."
This was the first all-collegian final match since 1992 when Todd Demsey defeated David Berganio, Jr. and only the second since 1987.
