Golf: Cox's Paolini wins Virginia State Amateur

WILLIAMSBURG

Brinson Paolini became the first high school golfer to win the Virginia State Amateur in almost 80 years Saturday afternoon when he held off Roger Newsom down the stretch for a 1-up victory at Kingsmill’s River Course.

The 17-year-old Paolini, a rising senior at Virginia Beach’s Cox High School, is the youngest State Am champion since 16-year-old Chandler Harper won in 1930. Harper, who grew up in Portsmouth, went on to a notable professional career, capturing the 1950 PGA Championship.

Paolini, who has already committed to Duke, is the first player to hold the State Junior and State Am titles at the same time . He won last year’s State Junior, which was played at Kingsmill’s Woods Course.

“The kid’s got a perfect swing,” said the 44-year-old Newsom, an ophthalmologist who is also from Virginia Beach. “If he never saw a teacher again, he’d be just fine. He can’t improve on that swing.”

Chances are he’ll try, though, for it’s a rare teen-ager who practices yoga to help his golf game.

Don’t laugh, Paolini said.

“It’s not easy,” he said. “My sister Brielle is big into Pilates and yoga. I’m not the most flexible guy, so I tried it. As I was walking out of my 10th class, the instructor said, 'Congratulations, you finally did some yoga today.’ ”

Flexibility wasn’t as important Saturday to the long-hitting Paolini, who shot 69-71 on the par-71 course, as stamina. In a match where he never trailed, Paolini almost melted at the end of the first State Am final to go 36 holes in 10 years .

The 5-foot-10, 140-pounder took a 3-up lead into the final nine holes and delivered a body blow to Newsom at the short par-4 11th.

After Newsom ran in an 18-foot putt for birdie, Paolini answered with a 10-footer to maintain his lead.

Newsom cut into the lead with a birdie at the par-4 14th and looked as if he might put on the type of run he made in the morning 18, when he made four consecutive birdies beginning on the 14th.

But the 15th wasn’t kind to Newsom the second time around. Standing 246 yards from the pin on the par-5, Newsom hit a 3-wood that bounded 30 yards over the green. Behind a stand of trees and left to play his chip shot away from the hole , Newsom eventually three-putted from 45 feet for bogey and Paolini was 3-up with three holes left.

Paolini then kept Newsom in the game with a double-bogey at the par-4 16th and a bogey at the 17th. Both were caused by pulled iron shots.

At the home hole, Paolini righted himself, hitting his approach shot to within 20 feet. Newsom’s approach overshot the green and his chip for birdie stopped 2 feet short, leaving Paolini to two-putt for the victory.

There’s little time for celebration. This morning, Paolini will hop a flight to Indiana where he’ll play in the American Junior Golf Association’s Rolex Tournament of Champions at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Ind.

While Paolini admitted the State Am was a marathon , it was one in which he had a measure of confidence. “I told myself it wasn’t a matter of if I’d win,” a State Am, Paolini said. “It was a matter of when.”

Rich Radford, (757) 446-2463, rich.radford@pilotonline.com