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Amateur Champion 2021
Late Bloomer Comes Through |
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Jimmy Taylor claims the VSGA Amateur crown |
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by CHRIS LANG |
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CHRIS LANG ( 2 ) |
Jimmy Taylor first picked up a golf club when he was about 8 years old , but it would be nearly a decade before golf became his main sport . Taylor , winner of the 108th VSGA Amateur Championship at Country Club of Petersburg in June , spent his earlier years trying to make the varsity basketball team at Gonzaga College High School in Washington , D . C . As a junior , he just missed out on the last varsity roster spot , and instead joined the golf team . He started winning events by the time he was a senior and made a splash on the VSGA scene by reaching the final of the 2019 VSGA Junior Match Play Championship and advancing to the semifinals of that year ’ s VSGA Amateur .
Those two results should be enough to tell you that the William & Mary junior likes match play . At CC of Petersburg , he ripped through five matches — including a 7-and-6 defeat of three-time finalist Jordan Utley — to claim the title , adding “ it ’ s definitely the biggest accomplishment of my career .”
Taylor became the first player from William & Mary to win the VSGA Amateur , and on the way , he defeated a host of strong players . He topped Radford ’ s Patrick Gareiss in extra holes in the first round , defeated Virginia Tech ’ s Connor Johnson in the round of 16 , ousted Virginia ’ s Sam Jung in the quarterfinals and clipped soon-to-be State Open of Virginia champion Evan Beck in the semifinals .
“ This is my favorite tournament all year long , every year ,” Taylor said . “ I love match play , and I always tell myself if I can get into match play that I ’ m tough to beat . I think I can beat anyone I tee it up against .”
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A junior at William & Mary , Jimmy Taylor rolled to a 7-and-6 win in the VSGA Amateur title match at
Country Club of Petersburg .
Though Taylor wasn ’ t especially sharp with his ball striking , he made up for it with an exemplary short game . The story of the final with Utley was simple : Taylor was rolling in everything from everywhere , and Utley could never get going with the flat stick . It added up to a lopsided victory .
“ He ’ s been so close all spring , but he hadn ’ t really put it all together ,” William & Mary coach Tim Pemberton said . “ He works harder than anybody . We knew he had this in him . It ’ s nice to see him come out and play like this . Obviously , the putter , the way he was rolling it this week , it was pretty special for him to do that in a pressure situation like this .”
Taylor was second on the Tribe roster in scoring average as a sophomore ( 73.70 )
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and posted the Tribe ’ s best two rounds of the year , a pair of 68s . He hopes the strong showing this summer will translate to even more success during his junior year in Williamsburg .
“ It definitely gives me a lot of confidence ,” Taylor said . “ It ’ s kind of crazy . I really didn ’ t expect this going into the week . I wasn ’ t hitting it great . I just kind of found something with the putter and the ball striking caught up with me . … This is awesome . My favorite tournament of the year , such a great one to win .”
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