Hopfinger Ready To Turn Pro After Winning Final Amateur Event

Brad Hopfinger originally did not envision the 81st Illinois State Amateur Championship to be his final event as a non-pro and recent college graduate.

“I missed (qualifying) by one” shot, the Lake Forest native said of his attempt to qualify for the USGA National Amateur Championship in suburban Milwaukee later this month. “That’s OK. It will give me a couple more weeks to get ready” for the professional ranks.

Perfect Exit Strategy

In the final amateur appearance of his golfing career, Hopfinger could not have crafted a better script.

• Video: Hear Brad Talk about his victory on our Facebook page.

The recent University of Iowa graduate who helped the Hawkeyes to a top-10 finish at the NCAA national championship last spring was a one-man wrecking crew to vulnerable Glen Oak Country Club on Thursday in Glen Ellyn.

Trailing by three shots to begin his morning round of the 36-hole finale, Hopfinger took advantage of the soft conditions and negligible winds to scorch the par-71 layout with eight birdies against a single dropped shot.

In true, calculating fashion, Hopfinger would settle for pars over his closing inward-nine to settle with a 272, 12 under par for the three-day, 72-hole championship.

College Reunion

Hopfinger came within a shot of the course record with his 7-under 64 —his lowest-competitive round ever — and wrapped up the championship with a methodical 69 on his second round to win by four shots over fellow Iowa teammate Chris Brant of downstate Edwardsville.

But not before Brant, who closed to within a shot on several occasions over the final 18 holes with second-round leader and two-time former champion Todd Mitchell struggling, created a formidable roadblock.

“I got the sense it was going to be me and Chris down the stretch,” Hopfinger said.

Ironically, Vince India, a third Iowa teammate of the duo from Deerfield, was the event’s defending champion. “It says a lot about our (college) team,” Hopfinger said.

On his scintillating 64 Thursday morning, Hopfinger simply gave no quarter. He would wind up with eight birdies, rendering the traditional country-club layout — the tight fairways, the penal rough, the undulating greens, the inestimable number of trees — irrelevant.

“The whole front nine I was doing every thing I could to catch” Mitchell, Hopfinger said.

Mitchell, who began the day at 6-under as the 36-hole leader, fired a third-round, 2-under 69, only to be overshadowed by Hopfinger.

Hopfinger, though, ultimately would find a familiar face blocking his way to the championship. With quipsters referring to it as the “Iowa Championship,” Brant made his move — on more than one occasion.

One Last Hurdle

However, the 16th hole at Glen Oak is a nefarious par 3 that stretches to almost 250 yards. Brant was still in contention when he blocked his tee shot to the right during the final round.

“You just can’t miss it right of that green — and I did,” Brant said. “The greens were definitely penal.”

The immediate storyline of the 36 finale — the duel between Mitchell and Hopfinger — proved moot when the former was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.

Brant was ruled the runner-up at minus-8, four shots behind the Hopfinger collective gem, as the result of Mitchell signing for birdie at No. 5 in the fourth round when he actually took par.

• Lake Forest product Andrew Wyatt also acquitted himself in admirable fashion, firing rounds of 72, 73, 73 and 1-under 70 to finish in a four-way tie for 10th at 4-over par 288.