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Byeong-Hun An
distanced himself from Ben
Martin on the back nine in the
first 18 holes of the final match.
An, a senior
at Bradenton (Fla.) Prep, won six of the final nine holes.
A junior golf All-American, he is the youngest finalist since 17-year-old Sung
Yoon Kim of Korea
lost in 1999 to David
Gossett. If he wins, would be the
youngest champion in history, surpassing 18-year-old Danny Lee
of New Zealand,
who won in 2008.
"The
last few holes I played great, " said An on his way to the clubhouse.
"I hope I play better this afternoon."
Both have
scrambled, Martin more so than An. The
unofficial stats show that Martin
struck just five fairways. Both have also had their share of misses.
On No. 12, An
two-putted from 8 feet
to lose the hole. One hole later, Martin
snap-hooked his drive into the rough, punched out to the fairway and sent his
approach into a front bunker. An eventually won with a par.
It wasn't
until the 15th that An settled in. He won the hole with another par, but not
until Martin struggled mightily on the green Looking at a
12-foot downhill birdie putt, he put too much speed on the ball. He missed the
15-foot comebacker.
An won the
par-5 16 with a 10-footer for birdie to go 2 up.
On 17, Martin tried to drive the par-4 dogleg right. The
sequence thereafter was tough. The ball ended up in back of the green and Martin chubbed the ball just 4 feet, short of the green.
He then left his par-putt 25
feet short and ran the next shot short. An took
advantage with a well executed up and down from the right greenside rough.
Overall, Martin has bogeyed seven times and carded one double
bogey. The bogeys came from the seventh hole and on.
Martin, who qualified for the 2009 U.S. Open
but missed the cut and celebrated his 22nd birthday on the first day of match
play, is seeking to become the first Clemson
University player to win
the championship since Chris
Patton in 1989.
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