Middletown native wins Ohio Amateur by five

ASSOCIATED PRESS

DAYTON — If he had saved just one more shot a couple of weeks ago, Alex Martin never would have won the 103rd Ohio Amateur golf championship on Friday.

Instead, the Middletown native lost on the fifth hole of a playoff to make it into the U.S. Public Links tournament. That left an open spot on his calendar to take on the state’s best amateurs this week at Moraine Country Club. He made the most of it by shooting a 3-under-par 69 in the final round to capture the title by five strokes.

“It was a blessing that I lost that playoff,” the senior-to-be at Indiana said with a wide grin. “I was really bummed at the moment, but as it turns out to get to come here and win this is awesome.”

Martin built a big lead with four early birdies, weathered a rough patch in the middle and then recovered down the stretch for the victory. He finished at 5-under 283, a year after finishing second.

“For the last three years I’ve felt that I was capable of winning it, but to obviously to win a tournament there’s a lot of things that you have to do right, and a little bit of luck here and there,” he said.

Hilliard’s Ethan Tracy, who will be a sophomore at Arkansas, shot a 74 and was alone in second.

First- and second-round leader Lucas Murray of East Sparta drew within a shot with five holes left but faltered to a 74 that left him at 289. Ryan Stocke of Boardman and Youngstown State, who matched Martin for the day’s low round, and defending champion Vaughn Snyder (74), turning pro next week, were at 292.

Martin and Tracy began the day tied for the lead at 2-under 214. Staring down each other in the same pairing, Martin quickly asserted himself.

Martin’s drive on the first hole split the fairway. His approach ended up 2 1/2 feet from the cup and he rolled that in for a lead he would never relinquish.

Tracy double-bogeyed the par-3 second hole from a difficult lie in a greenside bunker. Martin then birdied the fourth, sixth and seventh holes thanks to his unerring accuracy off the tee and with his irons. His birdie putts were 10, 8 and 5 feet, respectively — the last birdie coming as a massive storm narrowly swept past Moraine Country Club.

U.S. Bank Championship

MILWAUKEE — Greg Chalmers stayed on top of the leaderboard, firing a second-round 67 to move 9 under and build a two-shot lead.

Fellow first-round leader Jeff Klauk shot a 69 to finish two strokes behind along with Chris Riley (66) and Kris Blanks (63). Kevin Na (65), Marc Turnesa (65) and Steve Flesch (65) were another stroke back at 6-under 134.