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The 2013 Metropolitan Amateur Championship will be conducted later this week at Persimmon Woods GC, 10 years since it first hosted the areas most coveted amateur title and trophy, the Jim Tom Blair Trophy.  In that summer of 2003, Persimmon Woods member Scott Edwards would add his name to the long list of great St. Louis amateurs to have their name etched into the Blair Trophy.  At that time joining the likes of Holtgrieve, Bliss, Barry, Estes and Schnurbusch along with many others.

As we embark on the 23rd playing of the “Metro”, we asked Scott to reflect back on his victory that year and what it meant.  He defeated Shawn Jasper, an up and coming amateur at the time, in a 4-hole playoff.

MAGA: It has been 10 years since you captured the Metropolitan Amateur Championship in a playoff over Shawn Jasper at Persimmon Woods GC, can you reflect back on what the win meant at the time?

Scott: It was probably my biggest victory, and I remember being at Riverport to see Chicago that Saturday night with my wife and another couple. It was a gorgeous night and we were all on blankets on the lawn. I had my medal with me and it obviously had, and still has, a lot of significance for me. But as a dad, and now a grandfather of 4, the neatest part of winning the Metro was the fact that I had my son Brett on the bag throughout. He was 20 yrs old and home from college for the summer. Sharing it all with him was so cool. After spending 4 years in Phoenix, he and his wife and daughter moved back to St Louis in April. They’re living with us while they shop for a house.

MAGA: Scott, I distinctly remember the up-and-down you made on Hole 17 from behind the green, can you reflect back on that shot?  Was this the turning point of the playoff?

Scott: On #17 (our 3^rd playoff hole) my drive finished in the right rough. The pin was 1/3 of the way back over on the left side with an elevated rough just a few yards beyond it. My approach was dead at the pin, but I caught a flier and it flew the green and then continued going, leaving me with perhaps 30 yards in the rough and very little green with which to work. I opened up my lob wedge and somehow hit it stiff to save par. We went to the par-5 18^th tied (3 pars apiece), and when I knocked it pin high in two with my Taylor Made Rescue (remember those first hybrids?) my opponent felt compelled to go for the green from a difficult lie in the right rough. But he hit it in the pond and that was it.

MAGA: What are some of the details from the week, your rounds, the playoff?

Scott: I remember shooting 71-72-73 and learning I was in a playoff with Shawn Jasper, a nice young man who is now a professional. In the final round, I’ll never forget the par-3 3^rd hole. The pin was tucked back-right just over the rise, only about 8-feet from the fringe. Virtually impossible to get close to it. My tee shot from about 260 yds was pin high, perhaps 10 feet off the green, leaving me with a very delicate chip with the green falling away from me. Somehow I managed to leave myself a 3-foot downhill/sidehill putt for par. I lipped the putt and the ball raced down the slope to about 7 feet, which I missed. I had just 3-putted from 3-feet and made double bogey. But I stayed in the moment, as Bob Rotella teaches, and it paid off.

MAGA: What does it mean to be back in the field, at your home club for the 23^rd Amateur?

Scott: Despite a condition in my right foot the past 5 years that makes it difficult to walk, I didn’t want to miss teeing it up again on my home course 10 years later. My son can’t take time away from his new job, but I have a caddy and I can’t wait!

Edwards will begin the 23rd Amateur in the 8:36am starting time from Hole #1 on Thursday morning.  He is grouped with 1999 Amateur Champion Brian Kennedy and 2012 MAGA Senior Amateur Champion Andy Frost.  Follow all the groups later this week via the Plaza Motors Scoreboard.

The post Flashback Monday: Edwards Captures 2003 Amateur at Persimmon Woods appeared first on Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association.