Around the Green

Peck Wins 2014 Mid-Amateur Match Play

Bryan – Mike Peck from Irving and Jess Bonneau from Houston
battled into extra holes to decide the 2014 State Mid-Amateur Match Play
Championship at Traditions Club. After both players reached the green in three
shots on the 19th hole, Bonneau missed his 15-foot par putt. Peck was much
closer; only three feet stood between himself and the coveted Texas Golf
Association title.

 As he did over and again all day Sunday, Peck stepped up and
poured in the decisive putt.

 “That might have been the best putting I have ever had in a
tournament,” said the champion Peck, who also won the 2013 State Senior
Amateur Championship.

 Peck and Bonneau got off to a hot start in the final match of
the Mid-Amateur Match Play. Both players were all square through the first
three holes. On the fourth hole, Peck birdied to go 1 up. Bonneau answered with
a birdie the fifth hole to push the match back to all square. Peck went on to
birdie No. 7 and held another 1-up lead in the 18-hole final match.

 Bonneau answered again. He nearly made an albatross on the
525-yard, par-5 eighth hole and tapped in from a foot for eagle to square the
match yet again.

 “I had to put everything close. He [Peck] was making
everything,” said Bonneau. 

 The two decorated amateurs went back and forth for the next
several holes. Three times Bonneau held 1-up leads, but each time Peck rallied
to get even. On the 143-yard, par-3 hole 16th hole, Peck missed a five-footer
for par, and Bonneau sank his to go 2 up with two to play.

 “I thought it was all over,” Peck said.

 It was far from over. Peck won the two holes to pull even after
18 holes. With his par on the 19th, the championship was Peck’s.

 After shooting a 2-over-par 74 in the stroke play qualifying
round, Peck earned the No. 13 seed in the 32-player match play bracket. Peck
defeated 20th-seeded Barrett Sandefur, 3 and 1, in the opening round. Peck
moved past Chris Casey from The Woodlands, 3 and 2, in the second round. In the
quarterfinals, Peck scored another 3-and-2 victory, this time against TGA
veteran stalwart Aaron Hickman. In the semifinals, Peck beat Tony Soerries from
Montgomery, 3 and 1, to reach the finals.