Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods, 18, of Cypress, Calif., won the last three holes of the 36-hole final match versus Trip Kuehne, of McKinney, Texas, to score what is believed to be the biggest come-from-behind victory in U.S. Amateur history at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Woods' 2 up victory also established him as the youngest champion and first African-American champion in 94 years of the U.S. Amateur.

Woods trailed Kuehne by 6 holes after the first 13 holes, but drew to just 4 down at the end of the morning round. Then in the afternoon round he rallied to win six of the last 10 holes.

He took the lead in the match for the first time by making birdie 2 from 12 feet on No. 17. His tee shot on the 17th flirted with disaster, coming within a foot of dropping off the famous island green and into the water. He sealed his win when Kuehne's long bid for birdie on the final hole rolled 6 feet by and he missed the comeback attempt.

"I knew if I just hung in there, sooner or later those putts were going to go in," said Woods, a student at Stanford University. "And they did. Coming back from 6 down means the most," added Woods, who earned invitations to the 1995 U.S. Open, Masters, and British Open. Woods finished a collective 7-under par for the day, while Kuehne was 5-under.

"I gave it my best," said Kuehne, a 22-year-old student at Oklahoma State. "I made all of my birdies in the first 13 holes and only one in the last 23 holes while Tiger made his birdies late in the day."

Woods advanced to the final by beating Eric Frishette, of Carroll, Ohio, in his semifinal match, 5 and 3. He was the equivalent of 5 under par when he closed out the match with a conceded birdie at No. 15.

Kuehne advanced by beating Kris Cox, of San Antonio, Texas, his college teammate, 1 up. Kuehne took the lead for good in his match with a birdie at the par 5 16th.

Woods was also severely tested in the third round, when he rallied from three holes down with five holes to play in defeating former Amateur Champion Buddy Alexander, of Gainesville, Fla. Woods won four consecutive holes to close out Alexander, 1 up.

Defending champion John Harris, of Edina, Minn., lost in the second round of match play to Chuck Jabaley, of Cleveland, Tenn., in a math that lasted 20 holes. A third former champion, Mitch Voges, of Simi Valley, Calif., shot 151 for two days of stroke play qualifying. He missed advancing to match play by five strokes.

Hank Kim, of Jonesboro, Ga., took medalist honors with a 132 total, bolstered by a first round, record-tying score of 64. Woods advanced safely at 137.

The USGA accepted 5,128 entries for the Amateur, the third year in a row entries have topped 5,000.