Cherry Hills Village, CO (Sports Network) - Steven Fox birdied the first extra
hole Sunday to defeat Michael Weaver and complete an amazing comeback victory
at the U.S. Amateur Championship.
Fox was 2-down to Weaver with two holes to play at Cherry Hills Country Club.
Both players had decent looks at birdie on the 17th hole, but Weaver missed
his putt from about 10 feet. Fox drained his 8-footer to win the hole and
continue the match.
Neither had good looks at birdie on the 18th. Weaver lagged his 50-footer for
birdie to five feet and Fox rolled his 40-foot try to concession range. Weaver
had five feet for the title, but the ball did a full horseshoe around the cup
and stayed out.
The missed putt sent them back to No. 1 and Fox split the fairway with an
iron. Weaver hit driver and pulled it left by a cart path. Weaver's pitch
didn't reach the green and his third came up 15 feet short.
Fox knocked his approach to 18 feet and putted first. He poured in the birdie
putt to win the biggest title in amateur golf.
"I fought all day," Fox said in a televised interview. "I had to keep pushing
and try and make birdie.
"This is amazing. This is a dream come true. This is unreal."
The very fact these two played in the final was somewhat surprising. Both
survived a 17-for-14 playoff Wednesday morning and were ranked in the 60s for
the match-play portion of the event.
Weaver was 2-up after the first 18 holes of the match. Weaver's lead was never
bigger than 3-up, but Fox was able to catch up in the end.
The Sports Network