Tallent Wins U.S. Senior Amateur


Patrick Tallent won the U.S. Senior Amateur after beating Bryan Norton 2 and 1 in the 18-hole championship match Thursday at Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach, Calif.

Tallent, a 61-year-old from Vienna, Va., got his first victory after competing in his 27th USGA championship. He came close before, finishing second in 2010 in the same event, losing in the final match to Paul Simson at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando.

Tallent won two of the first three holes against Norton, a 55-year-old from Mission Hills, Kans. He then birdied the ninth hole to go 4-up. But Norton quickly rallied by winning hole Nos. 11, 12 and 14.

"I had no pressure at all," said Tallent. "After I made that birdie on nine, I thought this is pretty much over, and then I come out and I parred 10 and made a tremendous par on 11, and I'm thinking, that should have shrunk that hole up to about that big after I knocked that putt in for par, and yet he made it [for birdie], and then on 12 it was shocking," Tallent said about missing the green on the par-3 that led to a bogey.

Another bogey on the par-4 14th reduced his lead to 1-up. But Tallent birdied the par-3 15th. After both players bogeyed the par-5 16th, each birdied the par-4 17th to give Tallent his long-awaited USGA title.

"I did a nice job fighting my way back," said Norton. "When you do that, you can't make many mistakes and I didn't on the back, but 16 was certainly a mistake."

Tallent finished the match in dramatic fashion, sinking a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 17 as Norton was just 3 feet away for his own birdie.

"This is nerve racking because we're not used to playing under conditions like this," said Tallent. "Although I'll be honest with you, you can get nervous playing in anything, but it's certainly more nervous playing in a USGA event, so it's spectacular, fantastic. I can't express my joy at having won this event."

With the victory Tallent received a 10-year exemption from qualifying for the U.S. Senior Amateur, plus exemptions into the next two U.S. Amateurs and U.S. Mid-Amateurs, along with a spot in the 2015 U.S. Senior Open. He also will be exempt from local qualifying for next year's U.S. Open.

Norton received exemptions into next year's U.S. Amateur, U.S. Mid-Amateur and U.S. Senior Open, plus a three-year exemption to the U.S. Senior Amateur.

For full match details, visit http://www.usga.org/ChampEventScoreDetail.aspx?id=17179869331&year=2014&type=match6.