Tag: Orlando International Amateur

Jack Wall shows his game can travel with Orlando International Amateur win

When Jack Wall takes stock of his game in 2020, there will be two checks in the win column. It sets up nicely for 2021.

When Jack Wall takes stock of his game in 2020, there will be two checks in the win column. The 20-year-old from Brielle, New Jersey, snuck in one last victory on Dec. 30 at the Orlando International Amateur.

In Wall’s mind, the Orlando title, as well as the one he won at the Met Amateur over the summer, couldn’t have come at better times. His game has been up and down. At Orange County National this week, he reached uncharted territory, and that’s a good sign for the second half of his sophomore season at the University of South Carolina.

“This one means a lot to me because of how well I played and how consistently I played,” he said.

Wall had only a single bogey – on his 21st hole of the 54-hole event – and nothing higher. His 15-under total (65-67-67) is as low as he’s ever been in tournament golf.

Scores: Orlando International Amateur

“I was thinking about it but I was comfortable being where I was,” he said, “which is a great sign for the future.”

Wall explained the consistency by saying he simply found a way to make pars. His putting bailed him out too, he admits. Typically, Wall plays aggressively. Firing at pins often leads to bogeys. But at Orange County National, when he missed, it was in the right spots. Many two-putt pars resulted.

For much of the final round, Wall was tied with Andrew Walker, a redshirt senior at Michigan State. They matched birdies on the second hole, but Wall points to the par-3 fourth on Panther Lakes as a momentum change.

Walker hit the green but Wall plugged his approach in the right greenside bunker.

“If I don’t get that up and down and he makes birdie or par, he’s putting more space between us,” Wall said. “I somehow managed to get my ball up and down for par. We ended up halving the hole which I think was a huge up and down that kept me in it.”

Wall birdied the fifth hole while Walker bogeyed Nos. 5 and 6 and Wall was well on his way to catching up.

“It was just tough getting any momentum,” Walker said of the day. “Just a couple too many unforced errors.”

Walker ended up tied for second at 12 under along with Illinois junior Tommy Kuhl, whose closing 65 tied the low round of the day.

After Thanksgiving, Wall returned home to New Jersey and didn’t compete again until last week’s South Beach International Amateur, where he missed the cut.

“That was a pretty good warm up and I got a pretty good sense of where my game was at and what I needed to do,” he said.

Wall’s resume is covered in New Jersey accolades, from this summer’s Met Am title to winning the state grand slam (the County Tournament, Conference Tournament, State Sectional and State Championship) as a high-school player at Christian Brothers Academy. He’s only the second player ever to accomplish that.

Wall qualified for the U.S. Junior twice, advanced to U.S. Open sectionals twice and played the U.S. Amateur this summer. His Met roots shaped his game from an early age. Growing up around stiff competition, which often included older brothers Ethan and Jeremy, showed him his game could travel. He played many rounds against Rutgers senior Chris Gotterup, a former high school teammate now ranked No. 69 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, growing up, too.

“If I can compete with those guys,” Wall said. “I can take it to another step.”

He just did.

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Lauren Hartlage continues rapid rise with Women’s Orlando International Amateur victory

Lauren Hartlage never trailed on her way to winning the Women’s Orlando International Amateur on Sunday.

Playing against the best players in the world has done a world of good for Lauren Hartlage. As the 21-year-old Kentucky native faces the second half of her senior season at the University of Louisville, she is one of them.

Hartlage, who checks in at No. 48 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, never trailed on her way to winning the Women’s Orlando International Amateur on Sunday. She opened the tournament – and the 2020 season – with a bogey-free 5-under 67 at Orange County National’s Panther Lakes course in Winter Garden, Florida.

That says something about Hartlage’s short game and her ability to scramble.

“I left myself in good position where I could easily get up and down,” she said.

Women’s Orlando International Amateur: Leaderboard
Photos: U.S. Curtis Cup practice session

The Panther Lakes course rewards long and accurate ballstrikers. Hartlage logged 11 birdies over the course of 54 holes, including all three trips through the par-5 closing hole. With each putt, Hartlage’s confidence grows.

The Orlando International Amateur title is Hartlage’s first since winning the Louisville-hosted Moon Golf Invitational in February 2019. She has had opportunities since but has struggled not to pile pressure on herself. She was successful on that front Sunday.

Hartlage has made three previous starts in this event. Her 6-under total this week left her four shots ahead of Sora Kamiya, a junior golfer from Japan. Hartlage outpaced her by two shots in the final round, even though Kamiya made up immediate ground at the start of the day with a birdie at No. 2.

Since the Moon Golf title, Hartlage appeared in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur, scoring an invitation courtesy of her world ranking. She was selected for last month’s U.S. Curtis Cup practice session and spent a long weekend in South Florida playing four-ball and alternate-shot with fellow top-50 players. Alternate-shot represented a new type of pressure, but another opportunity to build confidence.

“Definitely being able to play in some of those top events and being able to compete with some of the best players in the world has helped a lot,” Hartlage said. “I have a few things that I might not believe in myself as much, but I know that I’m just as good as the rest of them.”

Hartlage made it to the first round of match play at the British Women’s Amateur at the end of a team trip to Ireland in June. She was runner-up at the Ladies National Golf Association Amateur at the end of the summer before making the second round of match play at the U.S. Women’s Amateur the next week, and from the No. 3 seed.

Compare Hartlage’s current game to where she was a year ago, and she has a noticeably bigger arsenal of shots.

“I think I knew I had the talent but didn’t believe in myself,” she said of her mental growth.

The next semester will be about honing it in with her wedges from 30 to 100 yards.

“Those are your scoring clubs,” she said. “Being able to flight them depending in the wind and distance control is really important and that’s the one thing I’ll be working on the most.”

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Kyle Cox rides new ball flight to six-shot Orlando International Amateur victory

Kyle Cox’s six-shot victory on Dec. 30 at the Orlando International Amateur is a good indicator that swing changes are paying off.

Aspiring Tour players are always looking for ways to measure their games against those already playing at the next level, and Kyle Cox is no different.

When Cox, a sophomore at Texas-Arlington, sat down with his swing coaches a few months ago to take a hard look at where he was losing strokes, he found himself in the trees.

“You’re trying to find really little things and how to improve,” Cox said of preparing for that next level. “We immediately looked to the tee ball. I’m way out of position too many times. It’s costing me too many strokes.”

Cox has always hit a long draw but worked to refine his go-to ball flight into a simple, repeatable and more accurate cut. Cox’s six-shot victory on Dec. 30 at the Orlando International Amateur is a good indicator that the process has been worth it.

Leaderboard: Orlando International Amateur

Cox, a native of Carrollton, Texas, started the final round at Orange County National’s Panther Lake course in Winter Garden, Florida, trailing by one shot. He was 2 under on the front and added two more birdies – plus his only bogey of the day – in the opening few holes of the back nine. By the time he closed with back-to-back birdies, he had far and away outpaced the rest of the field.

“I was always in position with an iron and I was just making some putts,” Cox said. “I was always in the fairway.”

A final-round 66 was his second-lowest score of the week, following his opening 65 on the Crooked Cat course, and got him to 15 under for the tournament.

Cox’s closing charge is another indicator of hard work paying off. He hasn’t always been so good about ignoring the scorecard and playing a round shot for shot.

Kyle Cox with the Orlando International Amateur trophy at Orange County National. (Photo submitted)

“I’ve been playing golf quite a while and I’ve been playing years of tournament golf,” Cox said. “I’ve been in all different kinds of spots.”

Regardless, this is Cox’s self-described biggest victory and his first major tournament win since he claimed won an AJGA event as a junior in high school.

Cox was keenly aware of the history at Winter Garden. Two weeks ago, the place hosted the final stage of Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School. At the 54-hole mark, the leader were also 15 under. Cox knows, of course, that conditions can be vastly different on any given day, but he was still proud to know he could win on a Korn Ferry Tour venue – and in a field of 200 players.

The Orlando International Amateur, which is a relatively new (yet increasingly deep) amateur event on the winter schedule, is Cox’s second off-season tournament start. He also played an All-Pro Tour event at River Plantation Country Club in Conroe, Texas, last week and finished T-6, second best among the amateurs in the field.

Cox gets invaluable perspective from swing coaches Cameron McCormick and Andrew Lewis, too. He has worked with McCormick, who also instructs a bevy of professionals and high-level college players, since the middle of his eighth-grade year.

“No one’s swing looks the same, everything is different,” Cox said of McCormick’s talented stable. “It’s catered to the player. He makes it super easy to play good golf.”

At Texas-Arlington, Cox’s whole is team is motivated to play well. Plenty of his teammates are chasing winter starts the same way Cox is. The Mavericks are ranked No. 126 in the Golfweek/Sagarin college rankings after the first half of the season.

Cox and company have a collective eye on a Sun Belt Conference title that would bring an automatic qualifying berth into the NCAA postseason. It’s full steam ahead to that goal, even as the college season is on pause.

“We as players know we need to do this and how much it helps out,” Cox said of staying sharp in the off-season.

That’s a popular line of thinking. At Orange County National, Cox’s closest pursuers were Justin Tereshko, the assistant men’s golf coach at Louisville, and Paul Swindell, a Lipscomb junior.

Luke Gifford, a Florida native who is in his sophomore season at South Florida, was solo fourth at 9 under followed by Blake Dyer, an Englishman who is halfway through his senior season at Florida, was fifth, another shot back.

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