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By Matt Veto, mveto@qconline.com
Gazing toward the giant scoreboard outside the pro-shop at the 2006 Short
Hills Amateur Golf Tournament, Brian Soucinek was pleasantly surprised. Minutes
after sinking an important putt on the 18th hole, Soucinek
thought he'd have to gear up for a playoff hole.
As it turned out, Soucinek's 144 was a single
stroke better than last year's Short Hills champion, Greg Rios. Soucinek had missed a tally while tracking Rios, and
relaxed knowing the tournament crown was indeed his.
That's the second National City Quad City Amateur Tour victory for Soucinek, who won the tour-opening event at Hawthorn Ridge.
"I'm hitting the ball really well," Soucinek
said. "The putter's not very strong for me right now. I've got a lot of 7-
to 10-foot birdie putts that I just can't get in the hole."
The fate of the tournament field was determined on the par-four 18th hole.
Rios and Chris Wilkins were part of a championship-flight four-pack with Soucinek and Kirk Trede. The
faces were familiar. In 2005, Rios topped Wilkins in a playoff to take the
championship.
This time around, Rios got into trouble.
Setting up from the rough on the right side of the fairway for his second
shot, Rios saw that he'd have to clear the pond to the right of the green. His
ball tapped the ridge surrounding the water and dunked into the drink.
"I was trying to hit a choke 4-iron and I should have probably hit a
five," Rios said. "I was going for the midland and just missed it a
little bit.
"You feel worse when you second guess yourself. I would have done it
the same way again only better."
It opened the door for Soucinek to take advantage.
However, Soucinek's second shot landed tall on the
hill behind the green. With a slant towards the water, it would have been risky
for Soucinek to loft his shot toward the pin. Instead
he left the ball tight to the ground and it pulled up short on the green's
fringe.
Soucinek bogied the
hole, but Rios' penalty stroke led to a double-bogey and allowed last year's
Q-C Amateur Tour Player of the Year to pick up the victory.
"I didn't feel good about bogeying my last two holes to win the
tournament," Soucinek said. "I just
airmailed 18 from 175 (yards) out with an 8-iron in my hand. You just want to
get it over the water."
While Rios said he wasn't terribly disappointed with his second-place
finish, citing a few other holes that caused him troubled, Wilkins lamented his
own performance.
"(I had an) inability to get the driver in play," Wilkins said.
"When you're punching out of trees all day, you don't expect to play well.
I didn't play well enough to win."
Wilkins was the leader after a round-one 69-stroke finish, but his round-two
76 kept him a stroke over par for the two-day event.