Tag: Jason Quinlan

Jason Quinlan ends an unusual freshman fall with Golfweek Streamsong Amateur title

Jason Quinlan carried off the trophy on a windy day at the Golfweek Streamsong Amateur.

Jason Quinlan’s freshman year at the University of South Carolina had hardly started when he found himself quarantined in his dorm room after a positive COVID test. In fact, Quinlan didn’t even have any homework yet, which is not so much a blessing as a curse when you’ve got to kill that much time in a tiny space.

Mercifully, it was a short quarantine.

“It ended up only being a few days because they figured out I’d actually had it before, so I didn’t have to stay for all that long,” Quinlan explained.

Still, Quinlan’s introduction to college, and college golf, has been very unusual. Since arriving in Columbia, South Carolina, from his Cumming, Georgia, home, Quinlan has only played two tournaments – Golfweek amateur events at Carolina Country Club and Streamsong Resort.

Scores: Golfweek Streamsong Amateur

Quinlan carried off the trophy in the latter, a considerable feat in the gusty conditions that swept over the undulating landscape that makes Streamsong a much sought-after golf destination in remote Central Florida.

Rounds of 67-75-72 left Quinlan tied at 2 under with Mason Lenhart, a redshirt sophomore at Cincinnati, after 54 holes. Quinlan won the playoff.

The makeup of the field – mainly college players, and many from Power 5 schools – should give Quinlan a fair amount of momentum heading into the spring season.

“Definitely boosts my confidence to win regardless,” he said. “Great I was able to win in a really good field, but just good to win. Always good to win.”

Quinlan had a share of the lead with Lenhart after the first round, too. He battled his way back in the final round on the strength of his drives. The Blue course is relatively open, and Quinlan didn’t hold back off the tee.

“I got to bomb the driver, which helped me quite a bit this week. Especially the last couple days with all this wind trying to get it down the fairway,” he said. Quinlan guesses he averages 320 yards with his driver.

It helped, too, that Quinlan felt he had a good feel for the speed of the greens by the final round. That helped him play the front nine without a bogey.

“That definitely helped me keep myself in the round,” he said.

Quinlan can’t quite remember the last time he got a win, but it was likely in a junior golf event. His Streamsong title is transitional. He has left that stage behind.

Only four players, Quinlan included, fired a round of par or better in Thursday’s final round. Only one of those numbers was under 70. Chase Roswall, a Tennessee redshirt sophomore, might as well have been playing a different course than the rest of the field.

His round of 63 was a new competitive course record on Streamsong’s Blue course – by four shots. Starting on No. 10, Roswall birdied Nos. 11, 13, 15 and 17 to turn at 4 under.

“I birdied 2, 3 and 4,” he said, “and after that I knew that everything was looking my way.”

Once he cleared the par-3 fifth – which gave up only two birdies and produced a lot of bogeys – with a par, he felt safe. Overall, Roswall had nine birdies and nine pars and, after opening rounds of 79-77, landed in a tie for eighth.

Roswall’s previous low round in a tournament is 64 – a number he has shot twice. Besides Streamsong, Roswall played in only one other event in the fall. He decided this would be the year he took it easy and spent time working on his game and his swing.

One of the changes he committed to with instructor Daniel Gray at Sea Island was tempo. He was trying to hit it too hard, he said, the first two days. He sorted it out in the final round on a day that, many players admitted, was the hardest yet at the visually striking but penal Blue course.

“I think it’s incredible,” Roswall said of the place. “I wish I’d played a little better the first two days. Standing up there on No. 1 tee and seeing the whole golf course is pretty amazing.”

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