By Staff
BENTON HARBOR – Jared Hack, 2005 Western Junior champion, continued his impressive run in the 2007 Western Amateur on Sunday, upsetting two-time, NCAA All-American Dustin Johnson, to advance to the championship match against 2007 University of Washington graduate Alex Prugh, who edged Stanford senior Rob Grube in an All-PAC 10 showdown.
A six-and-a-half hour weather delay pushed the start of the semifinal matches back to 2 p.m., forcing tournament officials to reschedule the championship match for 8 a.m. Monday at Point O'Woods Golf &C.C.
Hack, just 17, and a freshman-to-be at the University of Central Florida, played like a veteran, coming from 2 down through 10 holes against Johnson. Hack won four straight holes – the 11th through the 14th – with par, par, birdie, birdie to surge to a 2 up lead. He sealed the win with an 8-foot birdie putt on the par 3, 208-yard 17th, taking the match 2 and 1.
A shorter hitter of the tee, Hack consistently played first from the fairway, sometimes from 50 yards back of Johnson. "It's no pressure. I just go out and play my own game," said Hack, of Sanford, Fla. "Keep it in the fairway and get it up and down when it's not. Do what I have to do and not press. Tomorrow, I'll just try to keep doing the same thing."
Reaching the championship match seemed to come as a surprise even to Hack. "I had pretty low expectations for myself. I think that's why I'm this far," he said. "I hadn't played well all summer, but I started playing better last week at the U.S. Junior, where I reached the second round of match play."
For Johnson, a 2007 graduate of Coastal Carolina, the loss put an end to a solid week of golf.
"I'm glad I got to this point, but I'm disappointed, of course, that I didn't win my match," said Johnson, 23, of North Myrtle Beach, S.C. "Overall, I played really well. I waited until today to play my worst round. I just didn't hit the ball that well and put myself in some tough spots."
After taking a 1 up lead with a birdie on the par 4, 430-yard first hole, Prugh never lost the lead in a closely fought match with Grube. Prugh two-putted from 75 feet for par on the 17th to match Grube's par and seal a 2 and 1 victory.
"It feels great," said Prugh, 22, of Spokane, Wash. "This course fits my game and fits my eye right now. All week, I've just been playing the course. In match play, I still play the course, try to make some birdies and see what happens."
Four birdies – two on the front nine and two on the back – proved enough to edge Grube.
"It was a good match. We were both under par," said Grube, also 22, of Hinsdale, Ill. "I missed three putts under 10 feet, and that was the difference. I just couldn't get the putts to fall."