Pontus Nyholm had posted one of those, an opening 8-under 64, on Sunday on the strength of his wedge game. He won with a closing 66.
PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. — Normally, the winner gets to pick the meal in the Campbell huddle. There was indeed a Campbell huddle this week at the Golfweek True Blue Amateur, albeit an unofficial one as six Camels competed as individuals only.
As it turns out, Pontus Nyholm will probably pick up a decidedly unfancy bite to eat at McDonalds on the drive back home to campus, mostly because Wednesday morning team workouts are going to roll around early. While it’s important to savor a win, it’s not always an easy thing to do as a college student.
“Tomorrow is workouts, 7 o’clock in the morning, then we’ll have school then it’s practice,” said Nyholm. “You don’t really have time to.”
True Blue got decidedly more difficult as the week went on. The course dried out after being saturated in a downpour just days before the tournament. Nyholm found it difficult to gauge distances in a swirling wind on Tuesday. Those conditions made the low numbers more scarce.
Scores: Golfweek True Blue Amateur
Nyholm had posted one of those, an opening 8-under 64, on Sunday on the strength of his wedge game. He followed with 71 in the second round before posting a closing 66 to reach 15 under and close out a two-shot victory over South Carolina freshman Rafe Reynolds.
“It was nice to play an event as an actual college player,” said Reynolds.” I was able to play a few events this summer. We have a really solid team so I wanted to make sure I got to play, at least a little bit, this fall.”
With his five Campbell teammates watching from just off the 18th green, Nyholm holed a 20-footer for birdie to an extreme front pin. Things had started slowly for the Swede on Tuesday morning, to the tune of two bogeys in his opening five holes.
Nyholm hit a 3-wood to 3 feet from 275 yards out on the par-5 10th hole and kept it going from there.
“That was kind of the turning point for me,” he said.
It’s a roughly three-hour drive back home to the Campbell campus, and Nyholm will make it along with four of his teammates in a well-loved Chevy Impala. The men might struggle to find a place for the trophy, considering how packed the car was coming down.
Campbell isn’t able to compete as a team this fall, which is a spot many universities find themselves in. Instead, they created a makeshift fall schedule and plan to travel together. The Golfweek True Blue Amateur was just the first stop.
Despite the victory, Nyholm still named some problem areas in his game. He planned to work on his driving, which he called “not good enough,” and thought his putting needed a bit of attention, too. Then of course there was the workout that awaited. It will be a little easier to be cheery about that.
“I’ll obviously going to feel better walking into workouts tomorrow at 7 o’clock than I usually do,” he reasoned.
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