Shelton the winner – now the Western Am really begins

Writing from Sugar Grove, Illinois

Thursday, August 6, 2015

A funny thing happened at Rich Harvest Farms on Thursday.

Robby Shelton won a 72-hole golf tournament. He posed for photos with a shiny trophy. He was given a big silver plate to take home.

But really, he hasn’t won a thing yet. The medalist in the Western Amateur is little noted nor long remembered – unless he goes on to win the whole thing.

Shelton, a 19-year-old from Wilmer, Ala., added rounds of 1-under 71 and 5-under 67, the latter featuring an eagle-birdie outburst early in the round and four more birds to start his back nine, to finish at 11-under-par 277, beating Gavin Hall by two strokes.

Jordan Niebrugge, Dawson Armstrong, Aaron Wise and Sam Horsfield tied for third at 7-under 281, while Charlie Danielson of Osceola, Wis., was in solo seventh at 6-under 282.

But all those scores are wiped off the board on Friday morning, when match play begins among the Sweet Sixteen qualifiers. The stroke play totals only seed the players, who start anew.

One of them will won four matches and collect the 113th Western Amateur title.

The last champion to also win the stroke-play competition was Chris Williams, three years ago. He was the 24th to do so, and the 12th in the Sweet Sixteen era.

Shelton played here in the Palmer Cup in June, going 4-0, with two wins in team play and two wins in singles. Along with four rounds in the Western Am, plus practice rounds, he believes he’s played Rich Harvest 10 times.

“I know it pretty well by now,” said Shelton, who will be a junior at Alabama. “If you hit the fairways, it’s really gettable.”

Between the Palmer Cup and the Western Am, Shelton tied for third in the PGA Tour’s Barbasol tournament, played the same week as the British Open.

“It gave me a lot of confidence to be up there third in a PGA Tour event,” Shelton said. “Pretty cool. I knew I had the game to come here and compete.”

Shelton advanced to the Sweet Sixteen two years ago and lost in the first round. He’s one of four repeat qualifiers, including 2013 champion Niebrugge, Danielson and Jonathan Garrick.

Shelton plays Jack Maguire of St. Petersburg, Fla., in the opening match of the Round og 16, at 8 a.m.

NCAA champion Bryson DeChambeau of Clovis, Calif., missed by a stroke. He was 5-under in his final round through 16 holes and within the top 16, but triple-bogeyed the par-4 17th hole, and could only manage par on the par-5 18th.

– Tim Cronin