Saturday, July 14, 2001
City champ Gerwin adds
2nd Ohio Amateur golf title
The Associated Press
MASON, Ohio — After blowing a 4-foot putt on the 18th hole that would have won a tournament, a lot of players would have fallen apart. Not Robert Gerwin.
Robert Gerwin won his second Ohio Am the hard way.
(Dick Swaim photos)
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The 34-year-old Cincinnatian overcame a five-shot deficit and a three-putt on the final hole of regulation with a 16-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole Friday to win his second Ohio Amateur golf championship.
“I've played enough golf to know that those things happen,” Gerwin said of his last-hole bogey. “I'm an amateur golfer. Those things happen. You've got to move by it and go on.”
Gerwin, who won the Cincinnati Met title last month and the 1996 Amateur at Miami Valley Country Club — also in a playoff, was 4-over par through five holes and watched what was a three-shot deficit to Erik Herberth grow to five strokes.
“I just said to myself, 'You've got to get loose and you've got to let go,”' he said. “I decided to be more aggressive and get after it.”
Gerwin, who plays out of Camargo Country Club, pulled even with Herberth by birdieing six of the next 11 holes.
“He's a good player,” Herberth said. “What'd he make, like six or seven birdies?”
Neil Lykins of UC was third
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Gerwin tied Herberth with a 9-foot birdie putt on the par-5 14th hole, dropping a lob wedge on the green from the other side of a huge mound after going for it in two.
Two holes later, with Herberth racking up par after par, Gerwin hit a long iron shot to the front fringe of the green on the par-5 16th. He chipped to a foot of the hole and made the putt to get to 7 under, one shot better than Herberth, the second- and third-round leader.
Herberth salvaged par at the 17th after hitting his drive into the trees. Gerwin only had to hold his lead for one more hole.
Both he and Herberth hit their second shots onto the green on the par-4 hole. Herberth two-putted from 40 feet, making a 6-foot comebacker for par.
Gerwin missed his birdie putt from 22 feet, with the ball rolling 4 feet past the pin. He then pulled the clinching putt and had to settle for a bogey that left both players at 6-under 282. Gerwin had a final round 71 to Herberth's 74.
“I'm an amateur golfer,” Gerwin repeated. “Those 4-footers to win golf tournaments are tough.”
On the playoff hole, Herberth hit first and his ball bounced into a deep patch of rough 5 feet from the fairway. He punched out a shot that came up short of the green and into a grass bunker fronting the green. From there he chipped 8 feet past the cup.
“There was a good chance I was going to make that putt,” Herberth said. “If he makes birdie, he deserves to win.”
Gerwin hit a big drive to the end of the fairway and in the first cut of rough. His wedge shot came to rest 16 feet from the cup on the back part of the green.
While Herberth sized up a par putt that he hoped would keep him in the playoff, Gerwin rolled in his putt. He raised both arms in triumph, one of the few expressions of emotion he showed on the course.
“That putt was a lot easier than the putt on 18,” he said with a grin.
A former pro who regained his amateur status in 1993, Gerwin set the competitive course record with his 8-under 64 in the opening round. He followed that with rounds of 75, 72 and 71 — getting off to a slow start in each round.
Herberth, an Avon Lake native who will be a senior at Ohio University, had rounds of 66, 71, 71 and 74.
“I didn't play bad,” he said. “I didn't lose the tournament; he won it. He played a really good back nine.”
Third place went to University of Cincinnati golfer Neil Lykins, who finished three shots out of the playoff with a 285 after a closing 74.
Lykins applied most of the pressure on Herberth on the front nine. Playing in the same threesome with Herberth and Gerwin, he missed putts of 6 feet on the eighth hole and 4 feet at the ninth that would have tied him for the lead with Herberth.
“I was right there after nine holes, but I just didn't finish,” Lykins said.
Parma's Adam Holowczak, who plays at Greensboro College, also made a run at the leaders with birdies at holes No. 7 and 8. But he was done in by double-bogeys at the 10th and 17th holes.
Tim Donovan of Cincinnati, Dayton's Pete Samborsky and Dublin's Zach Doran shared fifth place at 287.
Gerwin had defeated Randy Leen of Dayton on the first playoff hole to win his first Amateur title.
He said it was too early to compare the two wins.
“I'm not able to relate yet,” he said. “Maybe tomorrow.”
Ohio Amateur golf scores
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City champ Gerwin adds 2nd Ohio Am golf title
