Men's Golfer Wins Western Amateur
Monday, August 6, 2001 | Men's Golf
Junior Bubba Dickerson (Hilliard, Fla.) joined a list Sunday that includes Phil Mickelson, Curtis Strange and Ben Crenshaw, as he won the 99th Western Amateur championship at Point O'Woods Golf and Country Club, Benton Harbor, Mich., after earning co-medalist honors on Friday.
"This is really a big one for me," Dickerson said. "It means a lot. If you just look at the names of the players who have been in the sweet 16, it's unbelievable." Mickelson, Strange and Crenshaw were also medalists before putting their names on the George R. Thorne trophy as Western Amateur winners.
"This is the first time I've been here," Dickerson added, who as co- medalist with Matthew Abbott (Endwell, N.Y.) tied Scott Verplank's 17-year- old record low of 270. "The rough was deep, the greens were fast. It was a great course. This is probably the biggest Amateur tournament in golf because these guys don't miss out ... if they're good enough and want to play, they're here."
Dickerson noted that he still had to attempt to qualify on Monday morning in Florida for a spot in the U.S. Amateur. "A lot of good players don't make it there," he said.
Dickerson won the first two holes in Sunday's final match against Trip Kuehne, (Dallas, Texas) then went 3-up on No. 9, a par 3, where Kuehne took a bogey after his tee shot found the front bunker. Dickerson sank a five foot birdie putt on No. 11 to go 4-up, then won No. 12 with a par and No. 14 with a birdie to secure a 6 and 4 victory. His winning margin was the largest in the Western Amateur since 1993, when Justin Leonard defeated Danny Green, also 6 and 4.
"Trip missed a lot of putts early on," Dickerson said. "He could have kept the match even, but he was missing his putts and I was making mine."
"He kept the pressure on me all day. He had control of the tee box," said Kuehne, a stock analyst from Dallas and the oldest player in the final four by eight years. "I'm not disappointed in what I did this week. You only get so many chances, though, and I wasn't playing well this afternoon. I have to work on my consistency."
In the morning semifinals, Dickerson defeated Matt Weibring (Plano, Texas) 4 and 3, while Kuehne topped Kevin Haefner (Pittsford, N.Y.) 6 and 5.
Weibring, a senior at Georgia Tech, held a 1-up lead before Dickerson squared the match with a birdie at No. 8 The match turned on the ninth hole, a par 3, when Weibring lost the hole by three-putting from three feet. "The most unfortunate thing was when he three-putted on No. 9," said Dickerson, who had walked off the green before Weibring addressed his birdie attempt. "I went to the 10th tee thinking I'd be 1-down, and instead I went 1-up. It gave me confidence."
Dickerson was a third-team All-American this year and a member of the 2001 NCAA Champion Gator lineup. He was runner-up in the 2000 U.S. Public Links and tied for second in the 2001 Southeastern Conference championships. On Friday, he earned co-medalist honors after tying the Western Amateur 72-hole medal play record of 270.
