Nice cushion helps Drenth win Short Hills Am

Jun 29, 2008 08:04PM

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By Ryan Sergeant, rsergeant@qconline.com

Dusty Drenth came into the final round of the Short Hills Amateur on Sunday with a four-shot lead and he did enough to win his first title on the Quad-City Amateur Tour golf circuit.

The St. Ambrose University junior didn't play his best golf, but thanks to the cushion he gave himself on Saturday, Drenth still found the winner's circle.

Scoring conditions were a little more favorable on Sunday compared to the windy first round, but the wind began to gust in the afternoon making things difficult down the stretch. Drenth's 3-over 75 ended up being plenty to hold off fellow SAU teammate Adam White and Chris Wilkins, who both posted back-to-back 74s for their tie for second.

Ben Peters, 2007 QCAm Tour Player of the Year, and Andy Peterson tied for fourth by shooting identical 77-74s.

The tie for second was enough for Wilkins, who came out of the gate with wins at the Hawthorn Ridge and Quad City Ams to start the season, to earn the Tour's second spot in the John Deere Classic qualifier. Also hoping to play his way into the PGA Tour event in a week is Peters, who had his spot in the qualifier locked up with his POY honors.

This weekend, though, belonged to Drenth, who has a pair of Top 5 finishes in the QC Am and Clinton Riverboat Days event this season.

"It feels great," said Drenth about the win. "I just went into the day thinking we were all even and just played golf."

Early on in the round, they were even. Drenth got off to a tough start, bogeying each of the first three holes as playing partner Andrew Townsend was 2-under par for his first four holes. Just like that, Townsend and Drenth shared the lead.

"That just shows how fast you can lose four shots," added Drenth. "But a couple of good things happened and I just got on a roll."

He was able to play steady, even-par golf from that point on and Townsend went on to fire a 79. As for White, it was just another good representation for the SAU golf program.

"I've been working a lot lately and haven't been able to play a lot of golf," he said. "But I'm real happy Dusty won, he deserves it. Ambrose did well this weekend."