Tag: Nicholas Gabrelcik

North Florida’s Nick Gabrelcik continues impressive year of results at U.S. Amateur at Oakmont

After an impressive freshman campaign at North Florida, Gabrelcik is still rolling this summer at the U.S. Am.

OAKMONT, Pa. — Nick Gabrelcik knew his game was something special back in 2018.

The Trinity, Florida, native was a junior at JW Mitchell High School and won the state match play that year, as well as a few junior events. The next summer he earned low-amateur honors at the 2019 Florida Open.

“That was the turning point where I knew I could compete with these guys on a regular basis,” Gabrelcik said on Thursday at the 121st U.S. Amateur at Oakmont Country Club. The rising sophomore at North Florida won a hard-earned match against Liberty’s Kieran Vincent, 1 up, to continue what’s been an impressive year of play.

As a freshman for the Ospreys, Gabrelcik won three events and finished inside the top 10 in seven of nine tournaments. He set a program season record with 69.59 stroke average thanks to only four rounds over par.

“Just playing amateur events, playing against college kids as a junior leading up to college, it really got me comfortable with them,” said Gabrelcik. “I knew a lot of them and I’ve succeeded against a lot of them, so I just took that into college and ultimately worked out.”

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Gabrelcik shot rounds of 69 and 71 in the stroke-play portion of this week’s USGA championship, finishing T-29 at even par to earn the No. 35 seed and a match against Vincent, who provided a stout test in the first round of match play. Gabrelcik held a 3-up lead with four holes to play, but Vincent clawed his way back into the match thanks to a few miscues from Gabrelcik down the stretch.

“Normally my ball striking is the strength of my game. Unfortunately, that was kind of going away towards the end,” said Gabrelcik. “I don’t know if it was nerves or anxiousness to finish the match. I just talked to my brother who’s one of my closest friends, he’s my caddie, and he was telling me, ‘Calm down, you’ve done this before.’

“Me and him we were joking around a lot on the course just trying to keep the mood light and not get too serious,” Gabrelcik explained. “I know Kieran, too. We’re both in that Atlantic Sun Conference, so we knew each other.”

After losing Nos. 15 and 17, Gabrelcik settled down and clutched up, making par on the 18th to advance to the afternoon’s Round of 32 against one of the hottest players left in the field, recent Western Amateur champion and Stanford sophomore Michael Thorbjornsen.

“Normally towards the end of the round here I would have got frustrated but I’ve learned over the years that just keeping calm is always the better way to go,” said Gabrelcik. “Hopefully throughout the next few matches I don’t lose it towards the end but I know that I can obviously go out here and play well, win a match. Hope I can carry it to the next match.”

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Clemson wins The Hayt, head coach Larry Penley draws closer to college victory record

The Clemson men’s golf team won The Hayt this week as head coach Larry Penley draws closer to college victory record.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Larry Penley drew closer to Jesse Haddock’s all-time coaching record for men’s college tournament titles.

Penley’s Clemson Tigers made it 81 victories for their outgoing coach on Monday by winning The Hayt at Sawgrass Country Club, pulling away from host University of North Florida to tie the tournament record at 19-under-par 845.

The Tigers got all four of their scoring players among the top-10, led by Kyle Cottam (67) in second place at 8-under-par 208, two shots behind individual winner Nick Gabrelcik (69) of UNF.

Turk Pettit (71) tied for third with Florida State’s John Pak (71) at 7 under, Colby Patton (69) finished sixth at 4 under and Jacob Bridgeman (69) tied for 10th at even par.

Clemson’s 12-under 276 in the final round tied another tournament record previously matched in 2001 by Augusta University and in 2013 by UNF.

Clemson has won two of its last three starts. Penley is one behind Haddock for the all-time record of 82, and he will have at most, four more events: the Shoal Creek Invitational, April 5-7 in Birmingham, Alabama; the ACC Championship, April 22-26 in Atlanta; an NCAA regional May 17-19; and if the Tigers qualify, the NCAA Championship, May 29-June 3 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

“We’re just trying to go out there and play as good as we can and get a couple of wins for coach [Penley] so he can go out on top,” Cottam said. “Our goal is to do a little better each tournament and be ready to peak when the ACC and the NCAA comes up, and we’ll be at our best.”

Clemson won The Hayt, named for John Hayt, the UNF program’s long-time benefactor, in its fourth-ever start in the tournament. The Tigers finished second in 2003, tied for fourth in 2004 and finished sixth in 2019.

Clemson Turk Pettit
Clemson senior Turk Pettit hitting his tee shot at No. 17 at Sawgrass Country Club at the Hayt. (Photo: Florida Times-Union)

“This is one of my favorite courses and I know it’s one of my players’ favorites,” said Penley, who has been at Clemson for 38 years. “It’s special to win on this course and even more special to have Mr. [John] Hayt’s name on the trophy.”

Clemson pulled away from UNF on the middle holes. The four players who scored played Nos. 7 through 14 at 8-under, with one bogey. UNF played the same stretch of holes at 8-over.

Penley’s team began the day one shot behind the Ospreys and when the final group was through five holes, the two teams were tied.

Cottam led the charge with four birdies in six holes from Nos. 7-12.

If his team couldn’t win the tournament, Schroeder was happy that Penley’s team did.

“Larry is a first-class guy with a really good team this year,” Schroeder said. “They’re a veteran team [Penley started three seniors and a junior] and Sawgrass usually identifies a really good team. Right now, they’re better than us.”

“I really didn’t anticipate being able to pull away like that,” Penley said. “I thought it was going to be a real dogfight and for a while, it was.”

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Gabrelcik won his second tournament title as a freshman, shaking off a triple-bogey at No. 13 after he hit his second shot out of bounds, and a bogey at No. 16 when he inexplicably hit driver off the tee of the downwind 380-yard hole, which has a fairway sloping down towards a water hazard in front of the green.

Gabrelcik said he was trying to hit a “chip-driver” at No. 16. He dropped, hit his third shot over the green, then pitched back on and made a 3-foot putt for bogey and dropped into a tie with Cottam.

“I was feeling confident. … the water was not really on my mind,” Gabrelcik said. “As soon as I saw the ball, I deeply regretted it.”

But Gabrelcik, who had a four-shot lead through 12, hit his next two fairways to set up his winning birdies, on a 4-foot putt at No. 17 and a two-putt from 40 feet at the par-5 closing hole.

Cottam had a chance at No. 18 but three-putted off the front fringe from 40 feet away for par.

“He’s a kid who’s going to keep fighting,” Schroeder said about Gabrelcik. “He hit the wrong club off the tee at No. 16 but after the triple, he didn’t mishit a golf shot. That shows you what he has inside of him.”

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Nick Gabrelcik runs away with New Year’s Invitational thanks to closing eagle

A closing eagle sealed a major amateur victory for Nick Gabrelcik, who is focused on preparing his game for the next level.

Nick Gabrelcik had considerable breathing room coming down the final stretch at the New Year’s Invitational on Sunday. He brought a five-shot lead to the 18th tee at St. Petersburg (Florida) Country Club.

“I wasn’t nervous because I knew I kind of already won unless something really out of the ordinary happened,” Gabrelcik said.

It did, but it worked in his favor. Gabrelcik had a 30-yard approach to the par-5 18th and ended up jarring a pitch with his 60-degree wedge. The ball didn’t even bounce, just went straight in the hole. It effectively sealed a major amateur victory for the 17-year-old who is focused on preparing his game for the next level in the coming months.

New Year’s Invitational: Leaderboard
More: Big brother’s influence key in Gabrelcik’s path forward

Gabrelcik, a high-school senior at J.W. Mitchell High School in Trinity, Florida, has signed to play for the University of North Florida beginning next fall.

Gabrelcik led from the start in St. Petersburg after an opening 5-under 67. Subsequent rounds of 71-67 left him at 11 under for the tournament, and seven shots better than runner-up Charlie Dubiel, a junior on the Cornell roster.

The third round of the event was washed out on Saturday. After the initial waiting period at the course, Gabrelcik returned home to take a nap, watch some football and eventually take in his cousin’s basketball game.

“I didn’t really think about having the lead that much until this morning,” Gabrelcik said. “I’ve been in this position before so I knew how to deal with it.”

Gabrelcik drew mostly from the experience of winning the Florida Amateur Public Links in June. He had played the final round alongside University of Florida sophomore Eugene Hong in that event and managed to hold him off with a closing 2-under 70 at Orange County National in Winter Garden, Florida.

The teen had won the Florida Match Play Championship in the summer of 2018.

The day before teeing it up in St. Petersburg, Gabrelcik was fighting a hook. His desired ball flight is a low draw. He found the fix and with his dad on the bag for the New Year’s Invitational, played confidently the whole week.

“I didn’t miss many wedges or short irons in,” he said. “Made a lot of birdies and not many mistakes.”

Gabrelcik has also put increased focus on his putting, particularly inside six  feet.

“I want to become dominant from that range,” Gabrelcik said. “If I have a par putt, I’m not worried about it.”

Ideally, the New Year’s Invitational title will raise Gabrelcik from his current position of No. 879 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. As he climbs, more doors should open to tougher competition. Gabrelcik hopes a USGA event, namely the U.S. Amateur, are in his future, among other events.

“This is a pretty big win,” he said. “Hopefully it does move me up in the WAGR rankings. All these amateur events are here to prepare me for when I go to college in the fall so I can play against more college kids.”

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