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Mills, 21, of Easley, S.C., became the first qualifying medalist
to win the APL since fellow Clemson Tiger D.J. Trahan claimed
the title in 2000, also in 37 holes at Heron Lakes in Portland,
Ore., five hours north of Bandon Dunes. Interestingly, the
medalist has gone on to win the championship four out of five
times the APL has been held in Oregon.
Despite winds that gusted up to 25 miles per hour, Saturday’s
36-hole finale featured an abundance of birdies by both players
– and very few halved holes. Mills and Ernst combined to
win 27 of the 37 holes contested.
Trailing for most of the day, Ernst drained a 7-foot par putt to
halve the 36th hole and force extra holes.
Playing the par-4 first hole for the third time in Saturday’s
36-hole finale, both competitors hit the fairway with their
drives and knocked their approach shots on the front of the
green, which featured a back-right hole location.
First to putt, Ernst raced his 50-foot birdie attempt 10 feet past
the hole. After Mills lagged his 30-footer within 4 feet, Ernst
put what he thought was a good stroke on his par effort only
to see it catch the left lip and spin out.
“I thought I made it,” said Ernst. “I hit it right where I wanted
to and it just didn’t drop.”
Mills then stepped up and calmly holed his remaining 4-footer
to claim the gold medal and possession of the James D.
Standish Trophy.
“I had a really good game plan the entire week,” said Mills.
“I stuck to it every day, every round, every match, and it kept
working out for me.”
Mills birdied the 18th hole of the morning session to take a
2-up lead into lunch.
He built his lead to 4 up and was seemingly in control of the
match midway through the afternoon round, when Ernst
reeled off wins at five consecutive holes to take a 1-up lead
with five to play.
“I kept telling myself that I was still in it,” said Ernst, who did
not lead until the 31st hole of the match. “I was down, but I still
believed I could pull it off.”
After making a slight alignment adjustment by opening his
shoulders a bit, Ernst went on a furious charge.
Mills Wins the 2011 Championship
U.S. Amateur Public Links 5
Corbin Mills parred the first extra playoff hole to defeat
First, he drove the green on the downwind 343-yard, par-4
Nick Taylor, who was trying to become the first stroke-play medalist to claim
Derek the title Ernst since in 2000, 37 holes fell just to short, win the losing 2011 to U.S. Brad Amateur Benjamin Public in the final. ninth, the players’ 27th hole, and two-putted for birdie. After
Links Championship contested at 7,016-yard, par-71 Old
Ernst won the 10th and 11th with pars when Mills found trouble
Macdonald at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.
off the tee, Ernst nearly aced the 237-yard, par-3 12th, hitting
a 5-iron within 6 inches of the hole for a conceded birdie to tie
the match. It would have been his second hole-in-one of the
week, as he aced the par-4 eighth hole at Bandon Trails in his
first-round match on Wednesday.
On the following hole, with Mills in good position off the tee,
Ernst stuck a wedge to 2 feet for a tap-in birdie for his first lead
of the day.
Mills proved resilient, however, getting up-and-down from
the fescue on the par-5 15th to square the match. He punctuated
his 15-foot birdie putt with a fist pump. He credited his
turnaround with a change in tempo.
“It took me until like 14 to realize, okay, I’ve got to slow this
down,” said Mills. “This whole week my deal had been [to play
quickly]. But I slowed down, regrouped and I made a 4 footer
for par on 14 to halve the hole. Then the big win on 15 really
got the momentum going.”
Ernst won the 16th with par, but found three separate bunkers
on the par-5 17th and eventually conceded the hole to Mills,
who had hit the green in two, to square the match again.
Mills overcame Ernst and five other match-play competitors
to win the title, but he also had to contend with several health
issues – though outsiders might not have known it from his
exceptional play throughout the week.
First, Mills developed an ear infection two days before leaving
for Bandon Dunes. Then, he missed his scheduled flight from
South Carolina to Oregon. He was able to catch a flight the
following day, but developed pink eye, for which he was still
taking antibiotics.
“I haven’t been able to hear out of my left ear the whole
week,” said Mills. “I don’t know if all this had me in some sort
of zone, but whatever it was, [it worked].”
Though his parents and many friends from his native South
Carolina could not attend Saturday’s 36-hole final, Mills
received an outpouring of support from his fan club.
“The past two or three days I’ve had so much support from
back home. All of my friends, all of my family, they’re just so
supportive. I’ve got a million texts and missed calls, everything
right now.”
APL