Davis holds off Prentice to win Oklahoma Amateur Championship

Davis holds off Prentice to win Oklahoma Amateur Championship

Ian Davis (Courtesy of Oklahoma Golf Association)

Ian Davis of Oklahoma City capped a triumphant return to the beginner golf ranks with a 1-up victory over Jacob Prentice of Edmond within the closing match of the Oklahoma Golf Association State Amateur Championship on a searing Wednesday afternoon at Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club.

Davis was a teen brimming with promise and large goals when he received the OGA Junior Championship in 2010 with every week of sensible play at Kickingbird Golf Course in Edmond. He went on to a profitable collegiate profession at Oklahoma State, then turned skilled in 2014. In his first occasion, he received the Colorado Open by 5 photographs.

For the subsequent six years, Davis traveled the world, having fun with the journey however studying simply how tough the street to the PGA Tour may be. He and former OU and present Korn Ferry Tour golfer Michael Gellerman took off to Canada one yr in an outdated beater automotive with a number of {dollars} between them to play the Mackenzie Tour. Gellerman served as his caddie Wednesday, as he’s at the moment nursing a rib harm.

By 2020, Davis conceded that it was time to get a full-time job outdoors of golf and utilized for his beginner standing again. He obtained it in November of 2021, however that is the primary occasion he has entered.

“Well, you know I have to work now,” he mentioned with a chuckle after holding on to edge Prentice within the closing. Now 30, his subsequent objective is to qualify for and hopefully win the USGA Mid-Amateur Championship. The qualifier is in August at Dornick Hills in Ardmore.

Davis, who had not performed in an occasion of any stature for the reason that 2020 Oklahoma Open, was not the one one who could have been a bit rusty coming in. Prentice, 25, has spent many of the previous three years recovering totally from a knee harm suffered in a bike accident in 2020. And his semifinal opponent, Austin Schmidt of Tulsa, has solely not too long ago fallen in love with golf once more after spending his early 20s racing motocross.

Coming off being an expert, Davis had to ignore all those that have been telling him that he was the odds-on favourite to win this occasion, one he by no means reached the ultimate whereas competing all through faculty.

His closing three matches have been all wars. He had to come from two holes behind with two holes to play Tuesday afternoon to edge Mike Hearn of Yukon in 20 holes. Then he wanted six birdies Wednesday morning within the semifinals to subdue Schmidt 2 and 1.

Schmidt didn’t play collegiate golf after highschool at Bishop Kelley, preferring grime bikes to digging it out of the grime. But he’s making up for misplaced time and has shortly proven he is without doubt one of the state’s prime gamers, making it to a playoff final week within the OGA Mid-Amateur after a second-round 66 after which reaching the semifinals right here.

“I regret all the time I took off but I’m loving it now,” Schmidt mentioned. “It was a really good match, I had a couple of putts that almost went in that could have got me over the hump. But Ian played great.”

Prentice, who received the Class 6A state championship taking part in at Edmond Memorial in 2015 and performed collegiately at Southern Nazarene, labored for 2 years as a membership fitter at Club Champion in Oklahoma City and now sells medical provides. He talks quick, performs very quick and may additionally drive his cart too quick (he and his caddie took a spill by way of a bunker on gap eight within the closing spherical). They have been discussing a shot and didn’t see it as they crested a hill.

His semifinal 3 and a pair of victory over Kyle Hudelson of Oklahoma City took simply two hours and 9 minutes, as the 2 raced round matching nice photographs. Prentice practically holed out from 63 yards proper and beneath the inexperienced on that very same eighth gap, leaving himself a tap-in birdie that put him 2 up. He birdied the tenth gap and received the par-3 eleventh with a par to go 4 up, then made a sequence of par saves down the stretch.

“He played really well,” Hudelson mentioned. “I’ve never seen a guy make that many 8-foot par saves. He didn’t miss any.”

Indeed, Prentice made no bogeys within the morning match, but it surely wasn’t the case within the closing. His first bogey of the day got here on the ninth gap and put him one down and his second got here on the par-3 eleventh, when he three-putted to fall two down.

He received the brief par-4 twelfth when Davis misplaced his tee shot in a creek and conceded a brief birdie putt to Prentice. His greatest alternative to draw even got here on the par-5 sixteenth, the place he left himself simply 5 ft for eagle, however the putt wouldn’t fall. Both gamers made pars on 17 and 18.

“I gave myself better looks this afternoon, but the putter just went a little cold on me,” Prentice mentioned. “When you look back on it, that eagle putt on 16, should have made that and the 4-footer I missed on 11. Ian beat me 1 up, he played great all week. But if I had anything to look back on with regret it would be those two putts. Other than that I have no regrets. Ian played his butt off and didn’t give me anything.”

Prentice and his spouse Samantha have a 7-month outdated baby which has restricted his golf and in addition it took him two years to get better from a knee harm he suffered using a bike in 2020. So like Davis this was his first main beginner occasion in years. Going ahead each might be an element for years to come on this and different mid-amateur occasions.

This was Davis first occasion since taking part in within the 2020 Oklahoma Open.

“This was fun, I had a great time,” Davis mentioned. “The pro career was great. I got to travel the world and see the world. Been to almost every country in South America and all across Canada. But yes, those guys are good. It’s tough to make a living.”

“I thought if I played well I could win. I had several friends telling me I was the odds-on favorite and I tried to ignore all that and just go play.”

by Chris Swafford, Oklahoma Golf