No refresher needed: Furman golfer captures S.C. Amateur Match Play

Before arriving at Bear Creek Golf Club this week, it had been perhaps three years since Connor Bruns teed it up in a match play event.

“I think the last match play I (entered) was from junior year or senior year in high school,” said Bruns, now heading into his sophomore year of college. “It’s just kind of different to play, match play rather than stroke play. It’s fun, though.”

Bruns apparently needed only a quick refresher. And winning makes anything a little more enjoyable.

The Furman golfer completed his run to the South Carolina Amateur Match Play crown Sunday with a 4 & 2 victory over Johnson Holliday, using a trio of front-nine birdies to grab control before playing a steady back nine.

One more birdie on the back nine proved the finishing flourish — a 10-footer at No. 16 that slammed the door as Holliday was hoping to scramble for a halve after finding tree trouble off the tee.

“He stuck it to me pretty early,” said Holliday, a rising junior at USC Aiken. “He’s a good competitor. I knew he was going to stick it to me when he could. When I left it open for him to attack, he was there.”

Each of Bruns’ four birdies came from mid-range length, including a 16-footer at No. 9 after finding a fairway bunker off the tee. That gave Bruns a 3-up lead at the turn, from which he was happy to string together pars and force Holliday to get aggressive.

“Here it just takes a lot of pars. You don’t have to kill you opponent with birdies,” Bruns said. “Hitting fairways, hitting greens and two putts makes a great score. It was getting back into the rhythm of hitting solid shots, not great shots. That’s the key.”

Holliday’s bogey after clipping a branch with his approach shot at No. 11 stakes Bruns to a 4-up lead. Holliday got one back with a birdie at Bear Creek’s par-5 13th hole, but he missed a chance to close the gap when Bruns left an opening at No. 14.

After overshooting the green off the tee, Bruns’ pitch was too strong and rolled all the way to the far fringe. Holliday’s tee shot came to rest on the front fringe, but his lag putt stopped alarmingly 6 feet short of the flagstick.

Holliday’s par save burned the right edge, leaving the hole to be halved with bogey.

“I thought I hit my first putt hard enough to get there close,” Holliday said. “I did everything I could; I just didn’t hit a good enough putt.”

Bruns said he’d also struggled with his putting most of the week, but some work Saturday night at the hotel paid dividends Sunday. Sealing the match with one more birdie, he said, was an added bonus.

“It definitely feels better than having to go up there and tap it in,” he said. “It felt good to see it drop.”

This story was originally published June 19, 2016 at 4:34 PM with the headline "No refresher needed: Furman golfer captures S.C. Amateur Match Play."