Koepka takes 2-shot victory

MOUNT PLEASANT — If you beat Austin Cody in a golf tournament this summer, chances are you're going home with the trophy.

Brooks Koepka raced ahead of Cody on Saturday with a sizzling four-hole stretch on Snee Farm Country Club's back nine and set a scoring record to win the 37th annual Rice Planters Amateur golf tournament.

Koepka, who was the Atlantic Coast Conference rookie of the year last season at Florida State, posted a final-round 67 and broke the tournament record by a stroke with his 72-hole total of 270, 18 under par. He also tied the tournament's 18-hole record Thursday with a 9-under 63.

Cody, a rising senior at Pinewood Prep who has committed to play for Duke, finished alone in second at 70—272, four shots in front of the University of Florida's Arnond Vongvanij, who

scored a final-round 68. Duke's Wes Roach was fourth at 69—277, while Charleston Southern's Kelvin Day and Ray Beaufils of Australia tied for fifth at 279.

Koepka started Saturday's final round trailing Cody by a stroke and that was still the situation heading to the back nine. Cody had one birdie on the front nine for a 35 while Koepka had two birdies and a bogey.

Koepka moved into a tie when Cody bogeyed the par-3 11th, then went on a blistering run on holes 13-16, going eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie. Cody did his best to keep pace with three birdies in that same stretch but found himself trailing by two strokes with two holes to play.

Both players parred the par-3 17th, and both ended up bogeying the finishing hole.

"The back nine, I kinda' kicked it in gear," Koepka said. "Once we got through 11, I knew the match was even. Those holes were the ones I played well all week. I eagled 13 (a par-5) again, I made a bomb, about a 50-footer. Those have been my holes all week. I played them well."

The key hole was the par-4 15th, where Cody's 20-foot birdie chance just missed and Koepka rolled in a five-footer for birdie and a two-shot cushion. The two also matched birdies on the par-5 16th.

"That was a little confidence boost coming to the last few holes," Koepka said of the 15th.

"This feels great. I haven't won in probably three years. It's good to be back. It's right up there with ACC freshman of the year. I've been playing well since the spring, so I'm excited."

Cody, who a couple of weeks ago lost the S.C. Junior by two shots when Caulder Moore of Isle of Palms shot a final-round 63, felt good about his performance.

"I played another solid round, but Brooks poured it on the back nine. I had a couple of breaks on the back nine that didn't go my way, but other than that it was four great rounds," Cody said.

"We were tied going into 13. That stretch just killed me. I went birdie-birdie-par-birdie, but I enjoyed it."

Cody praised Koepka's effort. "He deserved to win," Cody said. "He didn't miss a golf shot today. That was good playing by him."

Par-72, 6,834 yards

Brooks Koepka, Fla. 66-63-74-67—270

Austin Cody, N. Chas. 65-68-69-70—272

Arnond Vongvanij, Fla. 68-69-71-68—276

Wes Roach, Knoxville 69-68-71-69—277

Kelvin Day, England 69-69-70-71—279

Ray Beaufils, Australia 69-70-67-73—279

Greg Doherty, Canada 70-68-70-72—280

Jeff Knox, Augusta 70-70-72-69—281

Steven Brame, N.C. 73-68-75-67—283

Matthew Harvey, Texas 73-67-68-75—283

Minghao Wang, Ga. 71-72-70-71—284

L. Bleuminik, Australia 74-71-68-71—284

M. Smyth, Australia 72-72-68-72—284

Bert Atkinson, Chas. 72-70-74-69—285

J.D. Hudson, Texas 73-69-73-70—285

Brandon Hagy, Calif. 75-71-70-70—286

Patrick Cunning, Aiken 72-69-75-70—286

Spencer Fulford, Ga. 72-70-76-69—287

Michael Assey, Mt. Pl. 69-67-76-75—287

Dean Hester, Ga. 67-71-77-73—288

Patrick Barrett, N.C. 72-70-75-71—288

P. Woodbury, Lake City 73-73-72-71—289

Chase Parker, Augusta 72-70-77-70—289

Mitchell McGlamery, N.C. 73-72-73-72—290

Brian Dorfman, Colo. 76-69-75-71—291

Andrew Colvin, Fla. 72-73-72-74—291

T.J. Mitchell, Albany, Ga. 74-68-79-71—292

Joe Monte, Chantilly, Va. 76-71-70-75—292

Ben Weatherly, Australia 73-73-71-75—292

Ryan Lynch, Australia 74-69-73-76—292

C. Malloy, Tallahassee 72-78-73-70—293

B. Gillins, Savannah 76-74-72-71—293

Ryan Vince, Charlotte 72-73-74-74—293

Chris Contreras, Texas 73-70-73-77—293

Tim Mitchell, Texas 76-70-73-74—293

Chappell Brown, Fla. 68-74-75-76—293

M. Montgomery, H Head 72-73-71-77—293

Michael Drobnick, Ohio 74-72-72-75—293

Lee Knox, Augusta 69-73-71-80—293

Jonathan Mullane, Mt Pl. 69-76-76-73—294

Blake Smart, Ga. 78-72-71-73—294

Conrad VonBorsig, Pa. 73-72-75-74—294

Justin Emil, Nashville 67-75-71-81—294

Danny Sorgini, Ohio 74-70-79-72—295

Reed Howard, N.Y. 79-73-70-73—295

Will Ovenden, Spart. 70-78-74-74—296

Tyler Rody, Spartanburg 73-77-74-72—296

Michael Mashburn, N.C. 78-71-71-76—296

James Currie, England 75-72-75-74—296

Craig Tallent, Pa. 71-71-77-77—296

Alex Ellis, Austin, Texas 77-73-75-72—297

Jason Burstyn, Miami 74-78-71-74—297

Alan Fowler, Ga. 76-74-71-77—298

Mark McEntire, Chas. 73-75-75-75—298

Frank Dolan, Augusta 76-75-74-74—299

S. Brewer, Charlotte 74-69-75-81—299

Coy Breen, San Antonio 72-79-72-77—300

Austin Parks, Mt Pl. 71-75-79-76—301

Robert Everts, Tenn. 74-72-79-77—302

Mason Jacobs, Ill. 75-78-72-77—302

C. Lane, HiltonHead 80-73-71-79—303

Lushen Evans, S'ville 72-75-74-82—303

B. Borst, Pittsburgh 80-76-69-80—305

Joey Marino, Fla. 77-72-75-80—308

Tre Sheppard, Mt Pl. 74-75-71-DNF