Howe and Plata win Patriot All-America titles in Arizona
Georgia Tech’s Connor Howe and Michigan State’s Valery Plata won the 11th annual Patriot All-America at the Wigwam Golf Club in Arizona
Maynooth University’s Allan Hill and David Kitt tied for 54th and 73rd respectively as Michigan State’s Valery Plata and Georgia Tech’s Connor Howe claimed the titles in the 11th annual Patriot All-America at the Wigwam Golf Club in Arizona.
Plata birdied the 18th to card a four-under 66 and clinch a three-shot win on 12-under on the Blue Course as Howe made an albatross in a seven-under 63 on the Gold Course, coming home in seven-under 28 to win the men’s event by three shots on 15-under.
Hill made five birdies in a level par 70 to finish on two-over with Kitt eight-over after a closing 73.
“I didn’t know where I stood with the rest of the field coming up 18, so I just wanted to give myself a good look and not make any big numbers, and that’s what I did,” said Howe, whose 255-yard albatross on the par-5 10th shot him to the top of the leaderboard.
“I knew I needed to get something going – I didn’t know how much – but the albatross really kicked things into gear.”
Howe finished three shots ahead of Notre Dame’s Jackson Palmer (67) with his fellow Georgia Tech teammate Christo Lambrecht (66) of South Africa, a former East of Ireland champion, tied eighth on nine-under.
“It feels really special – I’m just really happy to be able to get it done,” said Colombia native Plata, and a former Big 10 Player of the Year. “It was a hard day today at the beginning so I’m just happy that things worked out my way today.”
Plata came into the final round tied for the lead, but a double bogey on the par-five third at the Blue Course dropped her down the leaderboard.
She rebounded with six birdies in her last 15 holes to win the inaugural Women’s Division, three shots clear of Clemson University junior Ivy Shepherd at nine-under.
“I was pretty confident on my approach shots,” said Plata. “I wasn’t hitting it all that great, but I hit a couple of good ones, and then the putter was rolling in pretty well so I think that helped me a lot.”
Over on the Gold Course, Howe made the turn at eight, two shots off the lead, before landing a 3-iron just short of the hole and finding the cup after one hop for his albatross at the 10th.
He would go on to make five more birdies to shoot the lowest closing nine in Patriot All-America history, a seven-under 28.
“I just started putting well – I made some putts on 12 and 13 and I had some good looks at birdie – and I capitalised,” said Howe.
Jackson of the University of Notre Dame shot a second consecutive 67 to finish alone in second at 12 under with Nick Lyerly of UNC-Greensboro, first-round leader Chase Sienkiewicz of the University of Arizona, Mason Andersen of Arizona State University and 36-hole leader Hunter Eichhorn of Marquette University all tied for third at 11-under.
The Patriot All-America honours fallen or severely wounded soldiers in partnership with the Folds of Honor Foundation.
The golfers received a golf bag donated by PING Corporation at the event’s opening ceremony this past Sunday emblazoned with the name and branch of service of a fallen or injured military member whom they shall represent. Participants also received a card with the soldier’s story so they can be familiar with that soldier.
