Paolini Wins Third Straight VSGA Amateur Championship

ALEXANDRIA, VA -- Brinson Paolini used a workmanlike approach to outlast Mike Kirby, 1 up in Saturday's Virginia State Golf Association Amateur Championship at Belle Haven Country Club (6,970 yards, par 36-36-72) to become the first player to win three straight titles in the 97-year history of the championship. Paolini has now won 15 consecutive matches at the event.

In addition to Paolini, previously only seven other players had collected back-to-back State Am triumphs: Billy Hurley (2004-05); Jay Woodson (2002-03); John Rollins (1996-97); Tom McKnight (1984-85); Curtis Strange (1974-75); Vinny Giles (1968-69) and Chandler Harper (1933-34).

In a roller coaster of a deciding match, Paolini won four of five holes in an important afternoon stretch to answer a two-holes down deficit and write his name alone in the record books. Owner of a 1-up lead going to the 36th hole of the encounter, the par-4 18th, Paolini got up and down from the back bunker, blasting to a nerve rattling three-and-a-half feet and making the deciding putt for the halve to retain the Schwarzschild Brothers Trophy.

"The VSGA has meant so much to me. To be able to win probably their best championship three years in a row means the world to me," said Paolini, a rising sophomore at Duke. "So many great players have come through Virginia. You know you're doing something right to be in the same conversation with them. I'm very humbled and I feel very blessed to have all the opportunities I've been given to be able to do what I did today."

Paolini held a 1-up lead at lunch as neither finalist made a birdie over the first 18 holes on greens that were as fast as they'd been all week. The birdie drought quickly ended after lunch, with the finalists combining for six birdies in seven holes from Nos. 19-25. Paolini appeared ready to take control of the match, winning holes 19 and 21 with conceded birdies to regain a 3-up advantage he held at one point during the morning session.

Kirby made sure that his opponent didn't coast into the record books. He battled an inconsistent putter during the first 18, and spent much of his lunch break trying to solve his short game woes. Focusing on keeping his head steadier over putts, he appeared to find the solution, collecting four consecutive birdies at Nos. 22-25 to take a 1-up lead. After carding a birdie the par-5 fourth hole, No. 22, he pulled his tee shot way left at the ensuing hole, but the shot was wayward enough to find the teeing ground at the ninth hole. Kirby lofted a shot to 8 feet below the hole and made the putt. He completed the stretch by drilling an iron to 7 feet and played a wedge to 4 feet at Nos. 24 and 25, respectively, to take a 1-up advantage and gain the upper hand for the first time in the match. Kirby's terrific iron play continued at the 28th hole, the downhill par-3 10th, where he drilled his tee shot to 10 inches for a conceded birdie to forge a 2-up lead and convert his fifth birdie in seven holes.

Paolini, the owner of an enviable, compact and technically-sound swing, answered right back with a solid fairways-and-greens approach, claiming the 30th hole, the par-5 12th, after his opponent found the water with his tee shot and struck two solid shots to the demanding 31st for a par and a win to square the match. He then knocked in a slippery four-and-a-half footer one hole later, swiping at the air after the putt dropped after earning an important halve.

At the 33rd hole, Kirby lipped out his 8-footer for par and Paolini regained a 1-up lead that he wouldn't relinquish. Paolini detonated two shots at the 34th hole, the par-5 16th, and showed his full arsenal of shots. About 20 feet short of the green in two, he used a 3-wood to chip with to get the ball rolling toward the cup and he judged it perfectly, converting the birdie putt to go dormie-2.

Paolini had a chance to close the match at the 35th, but his three-and-a-half foot par putt caught the lip and spun out. Both finalists drove it slightly left off the tee at the 36th hole; Kirby's approach found the front bunker, while Paolini's second came to rest in the bunker behind the putting surface. First to play, Kirby blasted to three feet for a certain par. With little green to land his delicate sand shot, Paolini played his shot to near-perfection with the ball stopping three-and-a-half feet from the cup. He calmly drained the par-saver to win the match.

Paolini has admittedly dedicated practice time to improving his bunker game in recent years and the results showed under pressure.

"To be able to get up and down from the short side on 18 to win was huge," Paolini says. "I've worked on my bunker game probably more than any other part of my game in the past two years. That was a very difficult shot, and it was one of the best bunker shots I've hit in a very long time and one of the best putts I've hit in a long time to win. It makes it that much better."

Kirby seemed to solve some early inconsistencies with his putter to rally before Paolini charged in the late stages.

"I thought I played pretty well. The second 18 was a pretty memorable one for me. I hit some good shots out there," he says. "The first 18, I thought I hit the ball great, but the putter totally left me. I started to roll in a few putts, but I fell one short."

Not only is Paolini a record-setter but a closer as well. In recording a repeat victory last year at Cedar Point Country Club in Suffolk, he faced 5-holes down deficit over the last nine holes of the match to outlast Blacksburg's Lanto Griffin, 2 up, to become the youngest player to successfully defend his VSGA State Am title. The late and legendary Chandler Harper of Portsmouth won the first of his three State Am titles in 1930 at the age of 16 before capturing his second in 1933 at the age of 19.

"I only play this game because I absolutely love it," Paolini says. "I love being in contention. I love having a chance to win. That's the sole reason I play the game. I was savoring every minute out there [on Saturday]."

Kirby, a No. 32 seed, the lowest in the match-play field, made his first appearance in match play at the State Am a memorable one.

"Obviously, Brinson has been one of the best around for three years now," says Kirby. "Winning three [State] Amateurs is an accomplishment in its own right. I tried to put a little heat on him, but he responded to it well. I lost to a great champion.

"If I can hang with him, for a working guy, that's not too shabby. The pressure is just not there anymore, so I just go out and give it my best shot. It's nice to see I have a little game here and there. I'm the mid-amateur guy now. It's a little easier competition."

Paolini, the Atlantic Coast Conference freshman of the year, says his goal is to play the PGA Tour after graduating from college. He seems well on his way.

"That's always been my dream," he says. "My goal is to keep improving and pick out parts of my game that I think I can get better at and keep progressing each year. My dream is to play on the PGA Tour, but there's a very long way to go. I have a lot of school to get through, a lot more maturing to do and a lot more to learn before I'm ready to make that decision."

For the time being, rest and recovery is likely foremost among the priorities for the finalists. The State Am rightly lived up to its reputation as an endurance test. Since the start of the championship on Tuesday, Kirby had played 142 holes over the course of the championship, while Paolini traversed 140 holes in that same span.

"I'm absolutely completely exhausted. I'm so glad I made that putt [at the 36th hole], because I don't know how many more holes we could've gone," Paolini laughs.

Courtesy of the VSGA

Paolini Wins Third Straight VSGA Amateur Championship

Duke information