One Gator Remains Standing at the U.S. Amateur
Thursday, August 23, 2001 | Men's Golf
Only one Florida Golfer remains in competition Thursday after the third round of match play at the 101st U.S. Amateur in Atlanta, Ga. Junior Bubba Dickerson (Hilliard, Fla.) will advance to round four and face a field of the top-eight amateur golfers in the world.
Round three was an Orange and Blue match of sorts as Dickerson faced his teammate sophomore Camilo Villegas (Mendlelin, Colombia). Villegas, in the orange shirt, struck the first blow, taking the first hole and the lead. Dickerson, in his blue striped shirt, then fought back and the pair kept the score even for the next two holes. Dickerson then took the lead on hole four, and although he kept the lead throughout the match, Villegas never let Dickerson get a clear lead. The match concluded on the 17th hole with Dickerson pulling ahead by two holes with just one left to play.
The Gator match-up was the second round played Thursday. Dickerson defeated Chris Nalen (Hackettstown, N.J.) by one hole in round two earlier in the day. Villegas qualified for round three by beating Andy Doeden (Fargo, N.D.) also by one hole.
The field started the day with 32 golfers and is now down to eight. Dickerson remains one of the spotlight players with his win at the 2001 Western Amateur. Play will continue on Friday where Dickerson will tee off at 9:45 a.m. against Michael Sims from Bermuda at the East Lake Country Club (par 70 – 7,091). For the final day ESPN will cover of the tournament from 2-5 p.m. on Friday.
NBC Sports will broadcast the tournament's semifinal and final rounds from 4-6 p.m. on both Saturday, August 25 and Sunday, August 26. Sunday’s telecast presents live coverage of the often-dramatic match-play conclusion of golf’s oldest championship.
NBC Sports' Emmy Award-winning golf production team will be led by host Dan Hicks and analyst Johnny Miller, who will be joined by course reporters Gary Koch, ex-Gator and four-time All-American, and Roger Maltbie; and interviewer Jimmy Roberts.
"This is the most prestigious amateur championship in golf and certainly the most difficult to win," said Koch, who played in four U.S. Amateur championships, making it to the semi-finals in 1974. "The winner will have played nine rounds of golf in seven days, so it's pretty grueling. It's nice to win the medal as top qualifier, but the goal is really to get one of the 64 spots in match play, when everything starts over again."
“Keep an eye on Bubba Dickerson,” says Koch. “He played on the University of Florida NCAA Championship team and went on to win both the medal and match play at the Western Amateur Championship. He's playing well and has experience in this format."
This is the first time for East Lake Golf Club to host the U.S. Amateur Championship. A challenging course rich in history, East Lake is best known as the former home course of golfing legend Bobby Jones.
The U.S. Amateur is one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs.
For comprehensive coverage of the 2001 U.S. Amateur Championship, log on to www.nbcsports.com.
