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Vallis fights back to grab last-hole win

Robert Vallis: Fourth win in the Bermuda Amateur Strokeplay Championships.
Robert Vallis believes the future of Bermudian golf is in safe hands.But the veteran player wasn't about to let the youngsters steal his thunder yesterday, proving there was life in the old doctor yet by coming from six shots down to wrest the Bermuda Men's Amateur Strokeplay title from the grasp of teenager David Smith at Port Royal.

Robert Vallis believes the future of Bermudian golf is in safe hands.

But the veteran player wasn't about to let the youngsters steal his thunder yesterday, proving there was life in the old doctor yet by coming from six shots down to wrest the Bermuda Men's Amateur Strokeplay title from the grasp of teenager David Smith at Port Royal.

Vallis fired 75 in the final round to finish on 294 while Smith carded a 79, his worst of the weekend, to total 295.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Spurling was also celebrating after sealing back to back victories in the women's competition by holding off another teenager in Laura Robinson.

Starting the day three shots off Smith, Vallis slipped further back during the final round, then gradually clawed his way into contention to tie things up with one hole to play.

A lengthy putt from this year's winner of the Bermuda Amateur Match Play title left him within a foot of the hole and an easy tap-in.

That put the pressure on Smith, a pupil at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Florida. Needing to sink an uphill putt from distance to force a play-off, his ball refused to break as it neared the hole and finished a couple of feet wide to hand the title to the older man.

Vallis said he always believed he had it in him to win the tournament.

"I felt I had a very good chance," he said. "I played with David yesterday (Sunday) and he had 26 putts. He holed a lot of them and chipped in a lot. (But) I felt he was a little bit erratic and if he was to do the same today I would have a good chance."

Vallis started the deciding round well, but his form dipped on the sixth hole.

"I drew a completely bare lie on the fairway and hit short of green and down the trap," he said. "I made a double bogey and he made a birdie, so I gave him three shots back and I was six back at that point."

He fell another shot back at seven and there was a further error on 12, the green of which Vallis described as "unplayable".

"I hit my first putt up to within a couple of feet of the hole and it ended up almost off the green again," he said. "I think it's totally unplayable and should be lifted and redone."

A three putt at 13 gave Smith another stroke and Vallis' chances appeared to be on the wane. But he birdied 14, and although he missed the green on 15, he recovered to birdie the next hole and then draw level after 17.

"My concern was simply to keep the ball in play and knock it on the green," he said of his approach to the final hole. "He has been wild with some of his drives. He's hit some great ones, but he has hit a few wild and he hit one on 18 and didn't really give himself a chance to get up and down unless he was going to hole a long putt."

He didn't and Vallis' more conservative approach won the day. That, he said, was in essence why he and not Smith or fellow youngsters Aaron James or Jarryd Dillas was atop the leaderboard at the end.

"I think the boys hit the ball a long way. They are very powerful, they have great short games, they putt without any concern at all for the next putt, but I think sometimes it gets them into trouble," Vallis said. "I think I just have to rely on my experience and try to hang in there. This is my fourth time of having won it now and I've been in tight ones before and David hasn't. But he will get his chance."

Vallis said he didn't play much competitive golf these days and wasn't sure if would be back to defend his title next year.

"I am nearly 50 and these guys are 30 years my junior and it's hard to play against them because they hit the ball so far," he said. "They carry it 50 yards past me and while it doesn't matter so much on a short course like this, on a longer course you just couldn't compete."

Vallis paid tribute to those youngsters who had given him a challenge over the past few days.

"This is the first year that the juniors from the Leadbetter and other places have shown anything," he said. "In previous years they have not really produced great goods. It is pleasing to see.

"They are like I was. They lose their cool, lose their temper and what have you and that is fine because it shows there is fire in their belly and they are keen to do things. But I think they have to learn to harness it, and they will, and make it work for them instead of against them."

Smith, meanwhile, was left to reflect on what might have been.

Though he wasn't overhauled until yesterday, the 18-year-old believed he lost the title 24 hours earlier.

"On the 18th hole of the second round I missed a three foot putt for a 69 and I probably lost it there," he said. "I said to my caddie that putt has probably lost us the tournament and I lost by one shot."

Despite his disappointment Smith was able to reflect on his weekend with a smile.

"It fell apart but it's just experience," he said, agreeing with Vallis' assertion that he had perhaps been a little too gung-ho. "On 18 I was trying to hit over the trees, hit it a little fat and into the tree.

"But I have done pretty good and I am pleased with myself. I had two rounds under par thanks to my caddie Scott Booth. I couldn't have done it without him, he was a big help."

Spurling, who finished with a round of 76 to total 232 for the 54-hole event, began the day just one shot clear of US raider Mary Ann Plunkett, another Leadbetter student.

The Islander parred the first two, bogeyed the third and then struck birdies on four and nine.

"I was two over after nine and on the back nine I bogeyed the first three and then I got things back on track. I bogeyed 16, birdied 17 and parred 18," she said.

"I was (confident of keeping the lead) but I just tried to stay focused on my own game. Mary Ann had a rough first hole and I think that put her off a little."

At 21-years-old Spurling is happy with where her golf development is.

"I am where I want to be, I guess. I'd maybe like to improve by a few shots and become a two over player," she said adding she would be back next year bidding for a hat-trick. "I'll keep my fingers crossed but I'm not making any predictions - I don't want to jinx it."