James Piot Wins 121st U.S. Amateur With Spectacular Final Nine

James Piot held a one-up lead over Austin Greaser after a tough first 18 holes at the 121st U.S. Amateur — Oakmont was a tough challenge and Greaser was proving a tough opponent for Piot.

Things were looking bad for Piot, a fifth-year senior at Michigan State when Greaser, a junior at the University of North Carolina, won three of the first four holes of the afternoon 18 to take a two-up lead.

Greaser held that two-up lead then increased it to three-up after 27 when Piot bogeyed the ninth.  Momentum was on Greaser’s side and Piot knew he had his work cut out for him.  “I wanted to shoot four-under over the final nine,” Piot said.  He almost did exactly that.  He birdied three of the next four holes and won the 12th with a par.  Wins on four straight holes totally changed the complexion of the championship match as Piot went one up then increased his lead to two-up when Greaser bogeyed the 16th after driving into the famous church pew bunkers.

Piot kept that lead as both players parred the 16th.  It ended at the 17th when Greaser’s birdie bid to extend the match missed.

“I still don’t believe I’m holding this trophy right now,” Piot said after he raised the Havemeyer. “Internally, I thought I had the ability to do it. To actually do it is the greatest thing ever.”

As for Greaser, he looked mentally spent after the loss. “I just didn’t execute on the back nine,” Greaser said. “He did. Hats off to him, he played a great back nine. The cards fell his way this time. It’s going to sting a little bit.”

The victory earned Piot an invitation to the 2022 Masters as well as the U.S. Open and the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews.

U.S. Amateur Scoreboard:

Ryan O’Toole Gets Breakthrough Win At Scottish Open:

It took her 228 tournaments but Ryann O’Toole finally got the job done Sunday at the Women’s Scottish Open.

The 34-year-old American closed with a bogey-free, eight-under par 64 at the Dumbarnie Links for her first LPGA Tour victory.

“I still feel like I’m in shock and the tears are going to come later when things die down,” O’Toole said. “I’m excited and happy. The hours and grind and heartache this sport brings, the constant travel, for this moment, I hope it only happens again and again.”

O’Toole finished at 17-under par and held off a strong challenge from Olympic Bronze Medalist Lydia Ko, who tied the course record with a closing 63 and a 14-under par total.  She tied for second with Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul (66), the points leader on the Ladies European Tour.

“I putted pretty well today and hit a pretty solid round today, six-under, but at least it’s not enough for the win,” Thitikul said. “I just know that I tried my best and I’m proud of myself already.”

O’Toole began the day tied for the lead at nine-under with two-time major champion Ariya Jutanugarn and Charley Hull, and the American took the lead with birdies on three of her first four holes.  Thitikul drew even with O’Toole with a birdie on the par-3 sixth, but O’Toole got back in front with a birdie on the par-four ninth to turn in 31.  She maintained her advantage throughout the back nine and finished with eight birdies, including all four par-fives.

“I tried not to look at the leaderboard,” O’Toole said. “I tried to just trust in my caddie to guide me to whether we needed to lay or get aggressive, stay patient or whatnot. It wasn’t until 18 that I saw that Lydia was not far off and I could tell when I made the birdie on 17 that there must have been some sort of gap because people were cheering, and I was like, OK, clearly I can’t mess this up too badly now.”

The ladies now head to famous Carnoustie for their final major of the season — the Women’s Open.

Scottish Open Scoreboard:

Calum Hill Wins Cazoo Classic:

Scotland’s Calum broke out of a pack of four players on the back nine at the London Golf Club Sunday and his closing 67 earned him his first European Tour win at the Cazoo Classic.

Hill trailed by two shots at the turn but came home in 33 to shoot 16-under, a shot better than Alex Levy of France, who shot the day’s best round, an eight-under par 64.  Richard Bland was one of four players who tied for third at 14-under par.

Hill lost out to fellow Scot Grant Forrest at last week’s Hero Open but got the job don Sunday to make it back to back Scottish winners on the European Tour for the first time since August 2012.

“It’s brilliant, I’m delighted,” Hill said. “Happy with how I managed to play my last 11 holes and really proud of what I managed to do.  I managed to manage my emotions pretty well and stay in each shot and not get ahead of myself. I definitely felt the pressure but managed to keep control of it.  I wasn’t really chasing a number, it felt like I was doing everything well today but at the start of the day my putts just weren’t dropping and then that changed on the back nine,” he added.

“This is the start and hopefully I can keep pushing on from here and see where I can take it,” Hill added.

Cazoo Scoreboard: