McAndrew takes command; wrests R.I. Amateur title from Valois

David McAndrew was all smiles yesterday after winning the RIGA Amateur Championship at Agawam Hunt.

The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman

EAST PROVIDENCE — Playing in the biggest match of his life, David McAndrew responded yesterday with the best performance of his young golf career.

The 20-year-old from Rhode Island County Club did not merely take away the R.I. Golf Association Amateur Championship from Brad Valois. He ripped it away, forcefully, with one of the best displays seen in the tournament’s 103-year history.

McAndrew had an awesome 11 birdies (several of them conceded) and one eagle as he ended Valois’ bid to make RIGA history by beating the lefty, 7 and 5, in the scheduled 36-hole title match at Agawam Hunt.

Valois, bidding to become only the fourth player — the first in nearly a half century — to win three years in a row, played fine. Actually, he was quite good. He had six birdies in the morning 18, five in the first 10 holes. He used his own numbers to point out how well McAndrew played.

“I had six birdies this morning and I was 1-down at the turn,” Valois noted.

McAndrew also had six birds in the first 18. It turned out he was merely getting warmed up. He took full advantage of the beautiful day and great conditions provided this week by Drew Cummins, the new course superintendent at Agawam.

McAndrew had finished the morning with birdies on both 17 and 18. He began the afternoon with a conceded birdie on one, a bird on two and then an eagle on three. He ran off a string of pars, then had birds on 28, 29 and 30.

That means he was 9-under for the final 15 holes, 7-under in the 13 holes after lunch. The Stetson University junior was asked whether he had ever played better.

“Probably not,” he said. “I probably should go finish that round. It was a lot of fun. When you see hard work pay off, it’s fun. You are enjoying the moment and enjoying playing golf.”

“When a guy shoots 6-under (actually seven), he’s tough to beat,” Valois said. “He played great. … He deserved it.”

It takes something special to beat Valois in an RIGA match. The 21-year-old URI star now is 31-4 overall, which includes three states junior titles and two Amateurs, in the seven years since he began playing RIGA competition.

McAndrew, on the other hand, still does not know how good he can be. The long (6-foot-4), lean, easygoing golfer is from a basketball family. His father, Mark, played for Providence College. His brother Mark, who caddied for him yesterday, just finished an excellent career at Brown.

“I was really into other sports,” the new champion said. “I didn’t commit to golf until the eighth grade. I played soccer and basketball. Golf was second or third. I grew up in a basketball house, as you know, so I’ve watched three times the amount of basketball as I have golf.”

His family joined RICC when he was 8, so McAndrew has been around the game for some time. He credited Chris Lamb, an assistant pro at RICC, for getting him started, and most notably Kyle Phelps, the RICC head pro and a former State Amateur champion himself, for developing him into a top-level player. In high school McAndrew was just one part of an outstanding team. He has gotten better each of his two years at Stetson, to the point where he had the lowest stroke average for the Hatters this season.

He entered the Amateur after a strong performance in the North & South Amateur at Pinehurst, where he reached the round of 16. Clearly, his game is still improving. He is long off the tee and was tremendously impressive around the greens in beating Valois. McAndrew dominated play all week, as he had been the medalist with back-to-back rounds of 69 in qualifying.

As impressive as his game is, what was equally impressive was how he reacted to pressure. This was easily the biggest match of his life. He received a phone call before beginning play — “I missed it,” he said — from PGA Tour pro Brad Faxon, another RICC product who has been helpful in his career.

McAndrew is low-key and affable off the course, sometimes too critical of himself on the course. But in the title match, he showed the fire of a true competitor.

“Compliments are hard to come by in our house, which is a good thing,” he said. “It makes you tough.”

McAndrew spent much of the day chatting with his brother as he went along. He did not show any real emotion until he drained an 18-footer for his 11th and final birdie of the match on the 30th hole. At that point, he raised his club in the air and began to celebrate. One hole later, he was the champion, the first from RICC since Paul Quigley in 1991. He joins an impressive list of champions from the course.

“Anytime you’re in the same sentence as Brad Faxon, Brett Quigley, Billy Andrade and whoever else has won, even Paul Quigley, he’s in the Hall of Fame in Rhode Island, it’s an honor,” he said. “I’m going to try to enjoy the moment.”