Goins Finishes Second at S.C. Amateur Match Play Championship
6/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
South Carolina Amateur Match Play Championship
Spartanburg, S.C. – USC Upstate golfer and Gaffney native Adam Goins made a spectacular run in the South Carolina Amateur Match Play Championship this week, and despite battling all the way to the end, the rising sophomore fell, 3&2, to Mark Joye in the championship match Sunday at Carolina Country Club.
Goins, who became the only true freshman in program history to win an individual championship when he shot 7-under-par to win the Caribbean Classic for Upstate earlier this spring, advanced to the championship match with a pair of wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals Saturday.
In the final, he faced Joye, a junior at Wofford College, making the championship match a Spartanburg college contest. Joye got off to a quick start by making birdie on the first two holes of the day to take a 2 up lead.
Goins got a shot back with a birdie on the sixth, starting a back-and-forth battle for the next five holes. When he made par on the 10th hole and Joye bogeyed, then made a birdie on the 11th, Goins squared the match. However, just like he did to start the round, Joye ran off back-to-back birdies to take a 2 up lead after 13 holes. He went on to take a 3&2 victory to win the championship.
"I did not apply any pressure to Mark and you have to if you are going to beat a player of his caliber," Goins told the staffers of the South Carolina Amateur Match Play Championship. "I will take away a lot of confidence from this week."
