Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
COLUMBUS - Stephen Conrad of Syracuse is the champion of the 105th Indiana Amateur Championship. This is Conrad's first major win in an Indiana Golf Association event. However, he was the Boy's State Junior Champion in 2003, a 5-day junior tournament conducted by the Indiana Junior Golf Program.
Conrad, a 2003 Wawasee graduate, played steady the entire final round.
Conrad was in the lead starting Thursday's fourth round tied with Heath Peters of Auburn. Conrad and Peters have completed in golf events since they were 14 years old. Conrad "enjoyed playing with Heath the last two rounds" and said, "he is an excellent player".
Conrad had a fairly quiet start to the final round, with two birdies and two bogies. He bogeyed the par-3 third and par-4 ninth. He scored back-to-back birdies on the fourth and fifth to make the turn at minus-5 for the tournament, still tied with Peters.
On the back Conrad scored nine straight pars to finish the final round with an even-par 72. Peters had an unfortunate back nine with back-to-back bogies on the 11th and 12th, another at the 15th and then finished with one more on the 18th. He finished the tournament at minus-1 and in sixth place overall.
"Everyone else was kind of up and down. I had nine pars on the back nine and played steady which kind of gave me a cushion," said Conrad.
Soon Ko, of Indianapolis, gave Conrad some great competition. Ko started off the final round a minus-3 and started off with a birdie on the first. He had back-to-back bogies at the par-4 second and par-3 third, but birdied the fourth. He then had a 3-putt bogey at the fifth to go back to minus-3. Ko finished the front with a birdie on the sixth and a bogey on the eighth to make the turn at minus-4, just one behind the leaders.
Making the turn Ko bogeyed the par-3 13th and dropped back two shots. He then scored back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th to tie Conrad at minus-5. Ko then bogeyed two of the last three holes to finished at minus-3 and tied for third place overall.
James Sacheck, of Zionsville, was the runner-up in this year's Amateur Championship. Sacheck who was in the lead to start the final round, fell back to shots to start the final round tied for fifth.
Sacheck started off the final round with back-to-back birdies on the first two holes, then another at the fifth. He went on to bogey the par-4 seventh and made the turn at minus-2, three shots behind Conrad and Peters.
He started the back nine with a birdie on the par-4 11th, followed by a bogey on the 12th. Sacheck then birdied the 14th and 17th to finish at minus-4 for the tournament.
Sean Rowen, of Indianapolis, scored this week's lowest round of 4-under-par 68. He finished the tournament tied for third.
"It means a lot," said Conrad of his win. "You can't ask for a lot more than this."
Conrad, who played his first two years in college at Nova Southereastern, will transfer to Johnson and Wales University in North Miami, Florida.
Drew Shafer, a Tippecanoe Valley graduate, finished tied for 14th with a four-day score of seven-over 295.
Joel Bickel of Syracuse finished tied for 43rd with a 14-over, 302.
