Rogers runs away with eight-shot win at 105th Georgia Amateur
SEA ISLAND - Evan Rogers entered the final round of the 105th Georgia Amateur Championship with the lead but steadfastly refused to take a peek at live scoring throughout Sunday’s play. Until the 16th hole, when curiosity got the best of him.
“I asked my dad, ‘Where are we?’” Rogers asked his father, John Rogers, his caddie for the week. “He said, ‘You really want to know?’”
Dad milked the drama for a beat and replied: “We’re seven clear.”
Rogers, a Duluth native and Hebron Christian School graduate who just finished his freshman season at Chattanooga, admitted feeling relief when he heard the news. Barring a broken bone or popped hamstring, he was going to win.
“I could just cruise and it was a great feeling,” he said.
Rogers closed with a 4-under 68 to shoot 10-under 278 at Ocean Forest Golf Club and will have his name etched on the Robert H. Martin Trophy alongside the state’s greats, including Bobby Jones, who won the first event, and Allen Doyle, who won a record six times.
“It’s an incredible honor,” Rogers said. “I don’t even know half the names on there, but I’m definitely going to look at them after this. It just proves that I belong and I’ve been trying to prove that to myself for a while. It feels good to finally be able to close out a tournament like this.”
Rogers’ eight-shot margin of victory matched the tournament record set by six-time PGA Tour winner Russell Henley when he won the second of back-to-back titles in 2009.
Rogers ran away and hid by shooting 31 on the back nine. He began the day with a two-shot lead over his friend Carter Loflin, a St. Pius product who recently finished his career at Georgia, and gave chase much of the afternoon.
The round began on a shaky note. Rogers hit a ball in the water on the first hole and made a bogey. But he steadied himself and led by two at the turn. Rogers then took command at the par-5 10th hole by rolling in a 70-footer for eagle.
“As soon as the putt left the putter face, I thought it was good,” he said. “My heart kind of dropped when it went it. It was a great feeling.”
Rogers added another birdie at No. 12, another at No. 14 and finished with a 6-footer for birdie on the 18th hole, as the final group finished about 10 minutes ahead of another fierce afternoon thunderstorm, the sort that caused delays on Friday and Saturday.
“You have to stay within yourself, especially on a golf course like this. You can’t force it,” Rogers said. “I was rolling it great and then I got to No. 10 and made that eagle, it was a blur.”
Loflin was knocked out of contention by a double bogey at No. 13. He shot 72 and finished alone in second place at 2-under 286.
Only one other player beat par for the week, Cartersville’s Bodie Brumlow, who matched Rogers’ 68 for the low round of the day, and finished 1 under. Bear Dollander of Savannah closed with a 69 and finished fourth at even par. Defending champion Bo Blanchard of Columbus finished tied for ninth.
The victory earned Rogers an exemption into the U.S. Amateur Championship, Aug. 10-16 at famed Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania, the Southern Amateur, and the 2027 Jones Cup.