Boring is better
- Updated: July 31, 2020
Jacob LeCroy plays ‘best round in tournament golf ever,’ shoots 63 to get in final group of State Am today
By East Alabama Sports Today
OPELIKA – One thing Jacob LeCroy learned during his first year of Division I college golf this year is good golf is boring golf. By those standards, the round he turned in during the third round of the State Amateur was boring and really good.
The rising South Alabama sophomore from Anniston shot the best tournament round of his career – and best round of the tournament so far – Friday when he posted a bogey-free 9-under-par 63 to shoot up the leaderboard.
He goes into the final round at Saugahatchee Country Club tied for third at 12-under 204, five shots off the lead. He will play in the final group with leader Gordon Sargent of Birmingham and second-place Drew Mathers of Mobile.
Noah Martino of Mobile and Nick Robillard of Birmingham are also at 204.
“That’s my best round in tournament golf ever,” LeCroy said. “I got hot with the putter was the main thing. One thing our coach says that I’ve learned is good golf is boring golf and that’s exactly what it was. You hit the fairway, you hit the green, you make a putt or you’re up there close and tap it in. It sounds monotonous, but if you’re doing these things consistently you can play really good golf and that’s the kind of golf I was wanting to come down here and play – and that’s exactly what I’ve done.
“Today I hit every green, I hit the greens I was supposed to. I hit every par-5 just about and I left myself in really good places. I didn’t short side myself any at all today. I kept the hole in front of me the entire round. I didn’t shoot myself in the leg and I got off the tee. That was the main thing. I’d hit it up there between five and 25 feet and I’d make them.”
It couldn’t have started any better. He opened the round with five straight birdies and was 6-under through eight holes. Things were going so well for him early on, he sank a 30-footer on 4 that he struck too hard and would’ve gone well past but caught the hole and dropped.
It sort of reminded him of the birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie start he had to the back nine at Anniston Country Club in the final round of last year’s record-shattering Sunny King Classic win with Jacob Harper, but without a mulligan.
The only sniff of a hiccup came when he three-putted No. 10 from 30 feet and he still walked away from the hole with a par.
“I told Charlie (Smith, his caddy) the main thing we’re going to do is we’re not going to shoot ourselves in the leg one time this week, with anything less than a 9-iron in,” LeCroy said. “I’m not going to short-side myself and leave myself in a bad spot where I have to make a 10- or 15-footer for par and I don’t want to have to do that.”
He hit at least 10 fairways and 13 to 15 greens every round of the tournament. He has played his last 22 holes since a double bogey on 14 Thursday in 11-under-par. He has made 17 birdies. The only holes he hasn’t birdied in the tournament are 7, 9, 13, 17 and 18.
“I was hitting my spots and I was making putts,” LeCroy said. “And if it didn’t go in, I was tapping it in. That helps a lot when you eliminate three-putts. That’s the most solid round of golf I ever played probably by leaving myself in places where I wanted to leave it.”
104th Alabama State Amateur
At Saugahatchee CC, Opelika
Third-round scores, top 10
Gordon Sargent, Birmingham 69-66-64—199
Drew Mathews, Mobile 69-66-68—203
Jacob LeCroy, Anniston 71-70-63—204
Noah Martino, Mobile 68-68-68—204
Nick Robillard, Birmingham 71-65-68—204
Connor Reid, Opelika 71-67-69—207
Thomas Ponder, Dothan 75-69-64—208
Woodie Eubanks, Oneonta 68-70-70—208
Ward Harris, Birmingham 68-70-72—210
Paul Bruce, Guntersville 70-70-72—212
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