Creighton in control heading into final round of MCT Men’s Am

The NSGA’s MCT Insurance men’s amateur championship is Myles Creighton’s to lose.

“Quite honestly if he shoots under par he’s going to win,” said Oakfield’s Greg Black, Creighton’s playing partner in the final group during Friday’s third round at Oakfield Golf and Country Club.

“It’s going to be a really tough chase tomorrow. I’m certainly not going to do anything crazy and try to shoot 65 to catch Myles.”

Seeking his first amateur title, Ashburn’s Creighton will go into Saturday’s final round with a four-stroke lead over Bruce Tomie of Northumberland Links and five up on Black.

Creighton, who entered the day with a one-shot advantage on Black, started his round with an eagle on the par-5 first hole and a birdie on No. 2. Four-under at the turn, Creighton laboured on the back nine as the strong breezes picked up but still finished the day with a 2-under 70.

“I’m very impressed with how solidly he played and quite honestly he didn’t make a single putt and he was still under par,” Black recalled. “That’s scary.”

“All of his mistakes that he made today were straight. Any mistakes off the tee were miss hits down the middle. He basically doesn’t get himself in any trouble and he doesn’t seem to get flustered by anything.”

Creighton and Black will be playing partners again on Saturday along with Tomie, the 2013 NSGA junior boys’ champion.

Tomie collected three birdies, a couple bogeys and eagled the par-5 17th for a 3-under 69 Friday. Only juniors Benjamin Chasse of Oakfield and Ewan Kelly Jr. of Ashburn had better third rounds. Each fired a 68.

Ashburn’s David Williamson and Trevor Chow and Ryan Dixon of River Hills are seven strokes off Creighton’s pace.

Creighton, who at 4-under for the tournament is the lone golfer in red numbers, feels confident heading into the final round.

“It’s under my control,” the 21-year-old said.

“If I go out and shoot under par and someone comes and shoots a low number and beats me, I’ll tip my cap to them. I’ll be aiming to shoot under par tomorrow
and play it like it’s any other day.

“I’ll go in tomorrow open-minded, get off to a good start and then try to finish this off.”

His play seems to be a continuation of a successful junior season at Radford University in Virginia. With the Radford men’s golf team, Creighton finished in the top 10 in every spring tournament he played in – winning two of them – and was named to the Big South all-conference team.

“Not to knock this course but the courses that we play (in college) are a little bit tougher than this,” Creighton said matter-of-factly. “This one is fairly stress free.

“Obviously when the wind kicks up it plays tougher. But I’ve been playing good lately and I’m just trying to roll with that. I’ve been playing a lot of golf so there’s no time to rest and it’s just been rolling for me.”

The afternoon breezes Friday made things precarious for the final group after the turn.

Chow, who started the day two shots back of Creighton, was 1 under after nine holes. But a double bogey on the par-4 10th led to a 40 on the back nine.

Black was also 1 under through the front nine after back-to-back birdies on Nos. 4 and 5. Over his final seven holes, the 33-year-old had three bogeys as the wind strengthened.

“I hit the ball pretty well today but it was hard to get anything close on the back nine,” Black said. “Our whole group struggled on the back as the wind kicked up. It was hard to get it close to the flag.”

Although nowhere near the 40 km/h gusts, which helped level the playing field during Thursday’s second round, Creighton agreed that the wind did play a factor down the stretch on Friday.

“It did get tougher on the back nine as the wind picked up,” the 54-hole leader said. “The front nine at a dead calm was as easy as it can play. But it did toughen later on but it wasn’t anywhere near the levels of what the wind was yesterday.”