Media Release
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (USA), Jun 23: Rigel Fernandes from Mangalore, a teenager who has done wonders in the golfing arena in the US, has added yet another feather to his brimming cap by winning the Rice Planters world ranked Amateur Golf tournament held at Snee Farm Country Club in South Carolina on Saturday June 21.
The 17-year-old rising sophomore at the University of South Florida finished with a closing 67 and a seven-stroke win over Mount Pleasant's Andrew Novak, who also had a final-round 67. Fernandes finished the tournament at 17-under-par 271, three strokes off the 72-hole scoring record maintaining his lead in all the four rounds of the tournament. And while there was no official word yet, his seven-shot margin undoubtedly was one of the largest, if not the largest, in the tournament's 42-year history.
Charleston Southern golfer Ross Thomson was the only other player who could snag some of the limelight from Fernandes, shooting an 8-underpar 64 to jump into a tie for eighth at 282 with Bucs teammate Jarrett Swan and Zhongyang Fu.
"I did what I said I wanted to do yesterday, made aggressive swings to conservative targets," said Fernandes, who was born in Mangalore, India, grew up in Dubai and has been in the US for the last 8 years. He attended the famous IMG Golf Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
"I know that on this course someone could go out and shoot a low number. I didn't think that I had it won until my caddy told me on 16 that the nearest player was 9-under. I birdied 16 to go up by 17."
Fernandes who had a 5 shot lead going to the final round wasn't perfect on Saturday, making two bogeys (on 1 and 11), but he followed each of the bogeys with a birdie and made a total of seven birdies in the final round. He made 24 birdies for the week and only seven bogeys.
Novak, who just completed his freshman season at Wofford, said he knew catching Fernandes was close to impossible. "Only if he wanted to come back to the field," Novak explained. "My plan was to go out and put a good number up and have fun. It was really fun. I played with a great group of guys." Fernandes also thought the event was fun and said he hopes to return to defend his title. "This place is great," Fernandes said. "It was my first time here but I had a lot of fun."
Last week Rigel also won the US Amateur Publinks Sectional Qualifer at Fairfield, Connecticut. This is Rigel’s second major amateur victory after winning the Innisbrook Amateur last year. Earlier, Rigel has won several junior international tournaments conducted by the American Junior Golf Association and the All India Junior championship conducted by the Indian Golf Union.
Rigel is the younger son of Ivan and Renny Fernandes, of Ashoknagar parish in Mangalore.
The Rice Planters Amateur was the inspiration of Dick Horne in 1973, being contested at Snee Farm Country Club since its inception. Throughout the years, an illustrious group of golfers have made the Rice Planters Amateur part of their rite of passage. Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, Andy Bean, Mark O’Meara, Hal Sutton, Stewart Cink, and Scott Verplank have all competed at this prestigious world ranked amateur golf tournament.
Rice Planters’ Champions have produced seven major golf championships:
•Hal Sutton won the 1979 Rice Planters and the 1983 PGA
•Tom Lehman won the 1982 Rice Planters and the 1996 British Open
•Stewart Cink won the 1993 Rice Planters and the 2009 British Open
•Allen Doyle won the 1998, 1990, and 1994 Rice Planters and the 1999 PGA Seniors, the 2011 Ford
Senior Players, and the 2005 and 2006 US Senior Opens
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