FRIEDENSBURG - He's baaaack â¦
After a four-year hiatus, Jim Rattigan reclaimed the Schuylkill County Amateur Golf Match-Play Championship with a 4 and 3 victory over Steve Rice in the Championship Flight final Sunday at Hidden Valley Golf Course.
For Rattigan, of Deer Lake, it is his fifth Match-Play title, but his first since 2010. Rattigan's other victories came in 2000, '05, '09 and '10. He is also the current county medal-play champion, a title he has also won five times.
The top seed, the 36-year-old Rattigan advanced to the finals with a 6 and 4 win over Mike Seasock and a 2 and 1 win over Luke Morgan on Saturday, and a 4 and 3 win over Bob Hillibush in the semifinals Sunday.
For Rice, of Orwigsburg, it was the second straight year he lost in the Match-Play finals.
Rice, the seventh seed, advanced by virtue of a 4 and 2 win over Tyler Marcotte, a 2 and 1 win over No. 2 seed Sean Misstishin and a 19th-hole win over Mike Kacelowicz in Sunday's semifinals.
That overtime match left Rice with only a 15-minute break between the semifinals and the championship match.
The title match was a contrast between a deliberate, attacking approach by Rattigan versus a more careful position game by Rice.
"I like to play the course very aggressive," Rattigan said. "I go for all the holes and try to hit it over the water and get it up the greens as close as I can. That's just part of the strategy I use here.
"I'll take my chances with chips and putts, rather than laying up and hitting irons in. That's just the way I feel comfortable playing the course."
Rattigan also said he was confident about his short game.
"Inside a hundred yards I felt I could hit the ball within a couple feet every time," he said. "Even putting, I felt if I gave myself a chance I could make it from anywhere. It was a good day."
Rice, 24, said he didn't hit his driver on a lot of holes, particularly on the front nine, and had a reason for not doing so.
"It was for placement," Rice said. "The greens were firm and I wanted to have a full club in to get a little more spin on it rather than just have a chip shot and hopefully get lucky with the bounce."
The championship match started as a see-saw affair, but Rattigan never trailed, winning the first hole with a birdie and going 2 up with a par on the tough, 211-yard, par-3 second hole.
Rice got one back on the 359-yard, par-4 No. 3 with a nifty 20-foot birdie putt after Rattigan's drive went right and nearly out of bounds.
Rice then pulled to even with another birdie putt on the par-5 No. 4, with Rattigan missing his birdie putt.
Rattigan immediately responded with a birdie on the short par-4 No. 5 when he chipped to three feet and made the putt.
The 353-yard, par-4 No. 6, a severe dogleg right over a creek to an elevated green guarded by trees and bunkers, provided a good example of the two players' different approaches.
Rice played the hole the way the textbook says to play it - use an iron straight out onto the fairway, giving the player another iron shot up the hill to the green.
Rattigan pulled out the driver without hesitation and faded it over the creek, past the trees just down the hill from the green.
It was a gamble that paid off when Rice's longer iron approach left him 30 feet short of the hole and Rattigan's shorter chip left him about eight feet short, where he made the birdie to go 2 up.
Rattigan then birdied the seventh to go 3 up. While Rice got the margin to within two holes a couple of times, he never got any closer.
Rice quickly got one back with a birdie on No. 8, but Rattigan birdied No. 9 while Rice's birdie putt lipped out.
Rice again got back to two down with a birdie on the 10th hole, but after halving No. 11, Rattigan again opted to use a driver over a creek, outdriving Rice's safer approach. When Rattigan put his second shot about three feet from the hole and made birdie, the lead was back to three.
Rattigan got to 4 up when he won the long, par-4 14th, and he then closed out the match on the par-5 15th.
Despite Rice sinking a beautiful 20-foot (or longer) birdie putt, Rattigan's eagle putt was only inches short of the hole and he made the birdie, halving the hole and securing the win.
Rice was proud of the way he played over the two days of the tournament.
"I just didn't make enough birdies in today's second round," he said. "I played well, but he just made more birdies.
"I played really well Saturday and played well today but just not as good."
In A Flight, 24-year old Zac Coulson of Pottsville, making his first-ever appearance in the tournament, captured the crown with a 4 and 3 victory over Clair Rummel Jr. of Saint Clair.
Jordan Stabinsky of Schuylkill Haven won a back-and-forth B Flight title match, defeating John Worthy of Schuylkill Haven 3 and 1.