Wednesday, July 11, 2001
Gerwin's 64 sets Ohio Am record
Met champ grabs two-stroke lead
By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor
Robert Gerwin II
(Dick Swaim photo)
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MASON — Robert Gerwin carved a special place for himself in the annals of the Ohio Amateur.
The leader board Tuesday at the Heritage Club, site of the 95th annual tournament, started at 66. Gerwin, the reigning Cincinnati Met tournament champion who plays out of the Camargo Club, shot a record-setting 8-under-par 64 to take the first-round lead in the 144-player, medal-play tournament.
Gerwin's score was a course record and ranks among the lowest opening-round scores in tournament history. After playing on the course for the first time Sunday, Gerwin finished two strokes ahead of Avon Lake's Erik Herberth, who held the course record for about six hours after finishing the morning round with a 66. That was one stroke better than the previous course record, which was shared by Taylor Metcalfe and Larry Herman.
Gerwin, who won the Ohio Am in a playoff in 1996 with Walker Cupper Randy Leen, blistered the Heritage course with seven birdies and an eagle to overcome his one bogey.
“I only missed one fairway,” said Gerwin, 34, who recently won the Cincinnati Met championship. “This is a hard golf course. You have to hit the fairways and the greens. I can't say there was anything about the course that made me more or less comfortable. I just hit some putts.”
Pete Samborsky, an Oak Hills High graduate who lives in Dayton, fired a 5-under-par 67 to finish the day in third place. “It could've been a 62 if my putter gets hot,” said Samborsky, 27, referring to several putts he said lipped out. “It was lukewarm.”
The field will be cut to the low 60 and ties after today's second round and to the low 40 and ties after Thursday's third round.
Local competitors who at least parred the 6,850-yard Heritage layout were King's Island's Neil Lykins with a 2-under 70, Middletown's Scott Miller with a 1-under 71, and Vineyard's Tim Donovan, King's Island's Nick Lykins and O'Bannon Creek's Bill Lundeen, each with an even-par 72. Lundeen recorded the best finish by a local golfer in last year's tournament by finishing in a three-way tie for ninth at Brookside Country Club in Columbus.
Samborksy's steady round featured six birdies, four on the front nine, and just one bogey, which he might have saved if he hadn't missed a 2-inch putt.
“I've been playing well,” said Samborsky, the son of Western Hills Country Club pro Gene Samborsky. “I've been hitting it pretty solid, and the putter's coming.
“For the past two years, I've been making a lot of mental mistakes when I've been playing. My swing was good, so I just stayed in it. Right now, I feel like I'm mentally OK. I've matured a lot. I'm more in the game mentally. I can see it.”
Ohio Men's Amateur golf results
Check out our Tristate golf guide for a directory and features on local courses, coverage of the Men's and Women's Met, and other news.
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Gerwin's 64 sets Ohio Am record
