Burrowes eyes US Amateur Championships
Published:Tuesday | May 25, 2021 | 12:17 AMLennox Aldred/Gleaner Writer
Fifty-year-old Phil Mickelson turned back the clock to become the oldest Professional Golf Association Major winner in history on Sunday, while right here in Jamaica on that same day, 20-year-old Justin Burrowes claimed his second national title at the Amateur Championships at the Caymanas Golf Club.
Maybe one day we will see young Burrowes playing professionally on the PGA tour, and with that, the young golfing prodigy is taking his steps towards achieving that dream by entering in the qualifiers for the US Amateur Championships, which will be held at the Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania.
Some of the greats of the game, including Mickelson, have won the US Amateur Championship along with Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Tiger Woods.
Burrowes is in a good place entering the qualifiers in late July in Naples, Florida, as he blitzed the field on Sunday, winning by 20 shots to claim the National Amateur Championships.
“It’s a great feeling to win,” he said. “In 2019, I won and in 2020 I came second and then to win again is just awesome. I felt like I have come very close and playing well and knocking on the door, and things just came together this week.”
BRILLIANT PERFORMANCE
To say that Burrowes was scintillating on the final day would be an understatement, as he carded six-under par 66 for a four-round total of 278.
It was Burrowes’ third straight round in red numbers after his 69 in round two and 70 in round three.
The right-hander dominated on Sunday with seven birdies and only one bogey in his round to carving out the 10 under par win.
“One of the goals that I set myself was to be double digits under par,” he said. “I was four under entering the final round and I knew I had to shoot six under to get to double digits.”
So dominating was his performance, his nearest rival was last year’s winner, William Knibbs, who finished second with a 10 over par total of 298 after rounds of 74, 79, 70 and 75.
Third place went to Zandre Roye, who shot a final-round two-under par 70 to end the tournament with a plus 15 total of 303.
Burrowes will be taking on a more challenging field at the US Amateur qualifiers in July, and he feels he is in a good place to rise to the occasion.
“That is one of the reasons why I am so happy about this performance, because I feel like I have shown myself that I can do it and it’s going to be about execution,” he said. “I proved that I can execute and that will give me some confidence going into that tournament.”
The US Amateur Championships is the oldest United States Golf Association championships, created in 1895.