Mendon teenager Hall wins Ryan Memorial
All John Kircher and Tim Spitz could do was shake the hand of the 14-year-old wunderkind who beat them head-to-head Saturday afternoon, and then shake their heads in wonderment while sipping on 19th hole beverages that Gavin Hall won’t be able to enjoy for another seven years.
“I have not,” the 33-year-old Spitz said when asked if he’d ever seen a kid as young as Hall play the way the Pittsford Mendon freshman-to-be did during the final round of the 79th RDGA John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial Championship at Brook-Lea Country Club.
“It was incredible,” Spitz continued. “He was very solid, very mature and a great kid. And he played fantastic. A 67 under that pressure with no bogeys is an awesome round for anybody.”
Hall played in the last group with Kircher and Spitz and dusted them both as his five-birdie, no-bogey performance enabled him to become the youngest winner in the history of the district championship, surpassing the man for whom the event is named as John H. Ryan Jr. won his first title in 1981 when he was 19.
“I just play each tournament as a tournament and try not to get too excited,” said Hall. “You’re just playing golf, hitting shots one shot at a time. I’ve played with these guys and I kind of feel a little part of the group.”
Oh, he’s part of the group now, a very select group who own champions’ blue blazers after his 5-under 283 total was two strokes better than Spitz who also was shaking his head over the fact that his back-to-back 68s could not prevent a fourth runner-up finish in Rochester’s most prestigious men’s amateur tournament.
“I’m the Phil Mickelson of this tournament, I guess,” he said with a laugh.
Kircher closed with a 70, tying him for third at 2-under 286 with two-time reigning state high school champion Dominic Bozzelli (73). The only other two players who finished under par were both high schoolers as well, Yarik Merkulov (69) and Joe Colosi (70) who wound up at 1-under 287.
Typically in this 72-hole tournament, the cagey veterans have an advantage because experience really matters. Only six times in the last 25 years has a college-aged player (early 20s) won the Ryan, and never in its 79-year history has a high schooler won, let alone a 14-year-old.
“This kid is a phenom,” said the 50-year-old Kircher, who had his college-aged daughter Libby caddying for him. “Libby said ‘Are you that old or are these other kids that young?’ and I said ‘Yes.’
“He hits it either way; he’s as comfortable hooking it as he is fading it. This kid has all the shots. I was very impressed.”
When the day began, Kircher was one stroke ahead of Hall and two clear of Spitz and Bozzelli, but things changed in a hurry. Hall birdied three of his first seven holes, Spitz made three birdies and an eagle in his first seven, and Bozzelli — playing one group ahead — was 3-under on the front nine.
Just as the leaders were in the 11th and 12th hole area, a violent thunderstorm rolled through and delayed play for more than two hours. When they went back out just after 2 p.m., the course was soaked and there was standing water in places, but no one seemed affected. Least of all Hall.
He made a terrific par after hitting three poor shots on the par-5 11th and he admitted “That was probably the turning point of the tournament for me. That really turned it around for me. That kind of got me started and gave me some confidence.”
Up ahead Bozzelli birdied Nos. 13 and 14 to get to 5-under and he led Hall by one, but then the recent McQuaid graduate made a double bogey at 15 and the two players flip-flopped positions and Bozzelli never recovered.
“I really wanted to win this one,” said Bozzelli, who will be attending the University of Auburn in the fall. “I had the lead with four or five holes to go so it’s disappointing. I just didn’t get it done today.”
Once he had the lead Hall was unflappable. Spitz — who had a wild day with six birdies, an eagle, two bogeys and a double — stayed right in the mix when he birdied 15 to get within one of Hall. But then Hall hit a clutch 9-iron to seven feet at 17 and converted the birdie, which gave him a two-shot cushion going to the 72nd hole.
The kid opened the door a crack when he left a 5-iron short of the green at the par-3 18th, and Spitz lasered a 5-iron to within 10 feet.
However, before Spitz even attempted his birdie putt, Hall ended all the excitement when he chipped to within a foot to wrap up a victory, one of many he is likely to enjoy over the next, oh, four decades or so.
Kircher summed it up best when he said “I’m glad I’m not 14 years old and playing him all the time.”
