Mike Hamilton Earns 1st Win as a Dad – Captures RI Mid-Am Title
Mike Hamilton earned his first win as a dad on Tuesday afternoon at The Aquidneck Club.
Hamilton fired a final round 67 to finish at one-under for the tournament and win the Rhode Island Mid-Amateur
“This one means a lot just because it’s been a great year. I had my first child this year and the game didn’t really come back until like the middle of July. After the State Am it was tough because I didn’t know if I was going to get it back. It came back which was great and it’s just nice to cap off the year like this,” said Hamilton after the round.
Hamilton and his wife welcomed their first child back in February and he says that has put things in perspective and brought more focus to his practice time.
“I think in a weird way, once I figured out how to be a dad, in terms of taking care of a child, I think it helped actually, because it puts a ton of stuff into perspective. Time is limited so it actually forces you to focus a little bit more. Now, all of a sudden, you don’t have gaps for multiple hours to practice, you have to find a half hour here, 45 minutes there, and your actually focusing on something to help your game. So it actually helped once I figured it out, which was in the second half of the year,” Hamilton added.
Hamilton edged out Austin Cilley by three shots and Tyler Cooke and Mike Calef by four shots to take the title.
This is his first RI Mid-Am title win to go along with his two stroke play titles.
Final Round Rally
Hamilton started the final round three shots back of the lead held by Calef.
Due to the way the course is laid out in relation to where players parked and came in for scoring, the 4th hole served as the first hole, meaning the third hole served as the 18th hole.
“The game plan was to be aggressive. I think this place actually rewards you for going at pins. It was one of the few places where playing to 30 feet really doesn’t help you because you have some really hard two putts,” said Hamilton.
Hamilton saved par on the first five holes, before dropping his first birdie of the day on the ninth hole.
“So my goal today was to get off to a solid start. There are really no birdie holes until you get to nine.I made a great save on seven, made like a 15-20 footer for par which helped get it going, made a great up and down on eight and then I looked at the leaderboard and Calef hadn’t moved. So at that point, I was like ‘gotta go guns blazing now, he isn’t going to fall back, he’s too good of a player, too experienced to do that’ so that kinda put a fire in me,” said Hamilton.
Hamilton launched himself right into he mix with an eagle on the 12th hole, before giving one shot back on the 13th.
The Kirkbrae product than birdied the 15th hole and parred out to fire a 34 on the back side.
Turning back to the front for the last three holes, Hamilton birdied the first hole and saved par on two and three to close out the tournament.
Hamilton’s Road Back to the Winners Circle
Prior to this week, it had been a summer of close calls for Hamilton.
He lost in a playoff at the Stroke Play Championship at Alpine, then lost in a playoff at the U.S. Mid-Am qualifier.
Hamilton then played the Kirkbrae Club Championship, which also went to a playoff, but he emerged victorious this time.
He says that win gave him a little bit of confidence that he still had it.
“Especially, considering Sam (Lombardi) is obviously a great player, but the way the Club Championship went down. We had a rain delay that lasted a month and having to play the last 15 holes, I was two-down. I actually lost the last two holes to go to a playoff there and it was one of those gut check times of having to totally hit the reset button and I think that helps in these situations, knowing that things are going to happen, even today,” said Hamilton.
Hamilton now adds a Mid-Am title to his two Stroke Play titles and six Kirkbrae Club Championships.