Golf Association

87th Men's Amateur Championship

Yaroslav Merkulov
87th Men's Amateur Champion

Scoreboard

Championship Links

Merkulov Flies High at Ravenwood to Capture 1st Men's Amateur Title

Victor, N.Y. – It came down to the 71st hole until it became clear that Yaroslav Merkulov would be crowned champion at the 87th Men’s Amateur on Thursday. Merkulov fired a three-day total of 7-under-par 281 to tie Nick Raasch’s feat of becoming the youngest state amateur winner in NYSGA history at the age of 17.

The defending state junior winner, Merkulov, tamed the Ravenwood course for three straight days in the 72-hole four-round stroke play format. He was one of few players who carried their clubs for the duration of the event. Still, he needed to carry one very important thing with him before he left; the Ganson Depew Cup, which is awarded to the winner of the state amateur each summer and is held for a period of one year.

However, not everything was handed to the talented junior on Thursday. Merkulov worked his way back from an 8-stroke deficit at one point during the 36-hole finale that played out on a warm and windy day in Victor.

In the morning round, Merkulov was 3-over-par through the back nine holes while Dominic Bozzelli, the leader after two-days, notched an unthinkable feat in reaching 10-under par for the tournament following three birdies through the first nine holes. The 8-shot lead seemed insurmountable despite the 27-holes still slated to play judging by the momentum.

But in the blink of an eye, the two were even once again with seven holes left to play to declare a victor. “Once I tied him with my birdie putt on the 11th hole I felt like even though there was a lot of golf left that I was in control,” says Merkulov. “I knew there was still a lot of golf to play but I thought that if I could play the rest of these holes just one shot better than him [Bozzelli] than I’d be alright as long as Gavin didn’t have birdies on 16, 17, & 18 like he did this morning.”

The duo continued to par hole after hole until the par-3 17th which ultimately decided the winner. With two holes left to play and Merkulov and Bozzelli playing nearly perfect golf it felt like it would come down to the final hole to decide the outcome; similar to the last time the men’s amateur was at Ravenwood back in 2003 when Kyle Hess defeated Matt Thomas on the par-5 18th hole.

However, Bozzelli met face to face with strong prevailing winds, a difficult pin placement which was tucked at the back right of the green, and a water hazard as he carded a quadruple bogey on the par-3. Bozzelli’s initial tee-shot cut right of the green and took two bounces in the water that players are forced to carry in order to land the green in one stroke. He would then lie two-strokes when he hit his next shot from the drop zone, which measured 130 yards to the flagstick. Bozzelli, who feared that Merkulov may sink his 30-foot birdie putt tried to hit his next shot from the drop zone right at the pin. Yet, once again the ball caromed off the right side off the rough and bounced into the water. Bozzelli would two-putt for a seven after getting his third shot from the drop zone on the green. However, it was too late as Merkulov sealed the deal with a par on the 17th and a safe bogey on the 18th to win by two shots over Bozzelli and Gavin Hall.

At times, Merkulov flew under the radar of all the attention given to Hall and Bozzelli throughout the day. The 14-year old Hall was coming off a victory at the John Ryan, Jr. Memorial Tournament last week and survived a quintuple bogey on the par-4 15th in the morning to remarkably post an even 36 on the back nine. Hall followed his nine on the 15th with a birdie on the 16th, 17th, and 18th to go along with his birdies on 10 and 13 to begin his day. His 20 birdies over four-rounds were good for second-best out of the entire field. The player with the most birdies over the three-day event went to Bozzelli as he posted three rounds of par or lower, including his 6-under-par 66 on Tuesday.

Merkulov didn’t seem to let anything bother him en route to his first men’s state amateur title. He began his comeback on the ninth hole when he flipped a wedge shot onto the green from 45 yards and then made his 15-foot birdie putt which played right-to-left on a downward slope. Merkulov then hit a 3-wood off the par-4 10th hole that played downwind to about 100 yards. Again, he showed off his up-and-down game hitting a wedge shot about 3 feet from the green where he would make birdie. On the next hole, Merkulov landed his second shot from 130-yards away to just 8-feet from the pin as he tied Bozzelli for a share of the lead. On the par-5 12th, Merkulov nearly holed out of the front bunker for eagle but missed a foot short.

“I’ve got to give it to Yarik,” says Bozzelli. “He played really well with that 69 in the final round and he earned it. I mean, I was hitting it pretty good all week and putting well for the most part. You want to be in position on the last day to have a chance to win and that was a lot of fun out there. That’s what you play for.”

“Overwhelming,” says Merkulov in describing how it feels to become this year’s champion. “I haven’t won a tournament this year and the field was just so strong it feels overwhelming.” Merkulov was most proud of the fact that all his hard work during the off-season paid off which allowed him to survive such a grueling day of 36 holes. “I was happy that I was still able to make good swings on those last couple holes because in the past those last 3 or 4 holes I would have been done,” says Merkulov.

Merkulov will be competing in the U.S. Junior Amateur from Trump National G.C. in Bedminster, N.J. next week. The state champion will also be competing in the Canon Cup with running mates Bozzelli and Hall in two weeks. The trio will represent 3-of-the-10 players from the East Team who will head to Flagstaff, Arizona to play at Forest Highlands G.C. in the match-play event.

Submitted by Kevin Solan

NYSGA Media Intern