Dougherty Has Epic Finish

By Alex Miceli

Ardmore, Pa. -- The headline might say Dillon Dougherty defeats J.C. Deacon 1 up in the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur, but the story was much more than that.

Herbert Warren Wind described Merion as a three-act play: the drama of the first six demanding holes; the comedy of the next seven that demand short precision; and the tragedy of the last five punishers.

	J.C. Deacon's reaction says it all. Vying to become the first Canadian to win the Amateur since 1971, Deacon lost the last two holes after holding a late lead. (John Mummert/USGA)

Well, the part about the tragedy was accurate in the first match of the semifinals. The last two holes were killers, a tragedy for Deacon, but an epic for Dougherty as he twice hit consecutive flagsticks on the 17^th and 18^th holes that helped him go from 1 down on the 17^th green to 1-up winner.

"He was so clutch," said Deacon after the heartbreaking loss. "He did it.  He came through.  That was Tiger-like being 1 down with two holes to play.  I didn’t do anything wrong.  He took it right out of my hands.  I’m shocked."

The match was nip-and-tuck all day until the final two holes, with the 17^th perhaps playing the bigger role of shocker to Deacon.  After coming off a fabulous up and down on the 16^th green, Deacon was still 1 up. 

On the 17^th teeing ground, Deacon placed his tee shot left in the matted rough. His lie was sitting down. Dougherty went left as well, but his ball was much higher up the hill that borders the left side. Unlike Deacon’s lie, Dougherty’s shot skipped upon impact and landed in a much better area where the ball was visible, but with a more difficult stance on the hill.

Dougherty took his time looking at the 25-yard shot, and after numerous practice swings, he bumped up his ball instead of taking a flop shot. The ball crept toward the hole the entire way until it hit the metal flagstick, sat on the lip for just a moment before forcing its way in.

"I had a pretty decent lie, so I could kind of get a club on it," said Dougherty.  "You don’t really know how it’s going to come out, but I had a good enough lie to where I could kind of just kind of throw it underneath a little bit and get a little bit of a high soft one.

"Considering the circumstances, it’s probably the best shot I’ve ever hit."

Dougherty had clawed his way back to all square with only his second birdie of the match after Deacon could not hole it from the rough.

Dougherty took his time on the 18^th tee, partly to calm himself and partly to concentrate on the drive that was into the wind.

Dougherty hit his drive right off the tee and when it didn’t turn over he would have a lie in the right rough with a hole location on the right part of the green. He had 210 yards to the front edge and another 10 yards to the hole.

Deacon pulled his tee shot left and found himself 30 yards behind Dougherty, but with a better look at he green and hole. 

Hitting first, Deacon hit his approach shot a little right, in the rough in between the fairway, greenside bunker and green.  With the advantage Dougherty tried to land his second shot short of the green and let it run up, but instead he flared the shot and hit the TV tower flanking the 18^th green.

After a drop, Dougherty was faced with a 50-yard chip shot over a bunker in trampled down rough. 

"Then the shot, I don't know how that happened, really," said Dougherty of the chip shot.  "I had a yardage I wanted to play and I think I flew it pretty close to it, and I think it was 47 yards I was trying to fly it.  I didn't really know how close I could get it at all, but that was the spot I needed to fly it on.  I don't know how close it would have ended up, but just unbelievable that it hit the pin and stopped there."

Like the last shot on the previous hole, the ball hit the flagstick and stopped a foot from the hole.  Deacon walked over, picked up the ball, tossed it to Dougherty and focused on trying to extend the match with a difficult up and down that, in the end, he could not execute, missing a 12-footer for par.

"I hit a great chip on 18, but the greens are so fast," said Deacon said of his final shots.  "It was tough to get focused to hit a good putt.  He won it.  I didn’t lose it."

After one of the most exciting matches in U.S. Amateur history, Dougherty needs to find enough gas in the tank for the 36-hole final on Sunday against Italy’s Edorado Molinari, but Dougherty believes he had some help today.  His grandfather, who passed away earlier this year, has been in his and his father’s thoughts. According to Dougherty, maybe there was some intervention.

"I'm sure he had something to do with some of the stuff that happened out there today," said Dougherty.  "That's not normal stuff that happened, to hole that chip and then to hit the flag.  I wish he was here, and he would be unbelievably proud.  I would be extremely happy to have made him so proud, but I think he definitely had a little bit to do with what happened."

Alex Miceli is a free-lance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.usamateur.org.