2014 Champion Zach Zaback
112th Connecticut Amateur Championship
Kevin Josephson
Z
ach Zaback, 20, of TPC River Highlands, took
a 2-Up lead into the final nine of the 36-hole
final and never looked back, posting a 1-Up
victory on Friday over 24-year-old Kevin Josephson of
the Country Club of Farmington to capture the 112th
Connecticut Amateur Championship. Zaback, a rising
junior at the University of Connecticut, was able to
navigate his way around the South Course at Lake
of Isles, a challenging 6,879 yard par-72 layout that
demanded precision and accuracy off the tee.
The turning point of the match came at the
difficult par-4 7th. All square through 25 holes, both
Josephson and Zaback drove it into the thick brush
lining the fairway. Both players struggled to advance it,
with Zaback forced to take an unplayable lie penalty and
Josephson unable to pitch out after a pair of swings.
With both players lying four in the fairway, Zaback hit
a laser-like approach to the back-left hole location and
drained a 10-foot downhill slider to take the 1-up lead
Zach Zaback
with just eleven holes to play.
However, Josephson refused to go away quietly.
He promptly bounced back with wins on the 12th and
13th holes to close the gap to one. Knowing he needed
birdie on the par-5 17th, a hole that Zaback eagled
in the morning round, Josephson selected his rarely
used driver off the tee in an attempt to reach the 550yard hole in two shots. With his ball in the green-side
bunker in two, and Zaback just short, Josephson made
a magnificent up-and-down for a birdie four, good
enough for a halve and a chance to win the 18th.
After driving it in the fairway, his second shot
landed just ten feet from the hole, but spun nearly 50feet down the slope guarding the difficult hole location.
Seeing Josephson’s birdie putt slide by and a mere
twenty feet from the hole for birdie, two putts were all
that was needed for Zaback to secure a hard earned
1-Up victory and the Connecticut Amateur trophy.