![\"\"](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Selfridge.jpg\" "\\"Selfridge\\"")
<\/a>Selfridge<\/p><\/div>The 2011-12 Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year carded a final-round 75 to win by two strokes ahead of Reeve Whitson and Gary Hurley. <\/p>\n
Selfridge finished the event at five-under par 283 (66-72-70-75). He began his final round with a four-shot advantage, and it grew into a six-shot lead after just six holes.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n
But a double bogey on the seventh dropped him back to seven-under par. He then dropped another shot on the eighth to see his lead reduced to three over Whitson.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n
Birdies on Nos. 9 and 10 steadied the ship for Selfridge, who admitted to being very nervous and not getting much sleep Saturday night.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n
“I’m delighted obviously,” he told reporters afterward. “I played great today, but on the last six holes I got very nervous. The longest I slept last night was an hour; I was so nervous out there, but I got through it thankfully.”\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n
Experience was perhaps key for Selfridge, who has never surrendered the lead in the tournament. <\/p>\n
“I’ve never ever lost with a lead in a tournament, so I always had that, but I had a six-shot lead at one stage and threw it away. I got through it in the end, just got over the line.”\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n
Despite concluding his freshman campaign this year in Toledo with three-straight top 10 finishes, Selfridge wasn’t convinced that people believed he had a chance. <\/p>\n
“No one expected me to win today, even with a three-shot lead. I knew how good I was playing; I have never played this well. OK, I shot 75, but the putts didn’t drop and I got a couple of terrible breaks, especially on seven where I made double from a perfect tee shot.”\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n
“I knew I had a huge lead, but when I double bogeyed seven and bogeyed eight, my original game plan was to play nine and 10 as the par fives and try and make birdie that way, but I sort of knew that I had to get back on board so I actually hit two drives 400 yards, flicked two lob wedges in, and could have made two eagles but made two birdies. When I did that I knew I was in a good place.”\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n
So what does the future hold for Selfridge? Past winners of the Irish Close include Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy.<\/p>\n
“I just keep trying to get better; a lot of people treat golf as a job,” Selfridge said. I’m going to get a degree; I’m going to get a master\u2019s degree. I’m definitely going to try professional golf probably. I’m not depending on it. Whatever I end up doing, I end up doing. I want to enjoy golf; I love coming to these things.”\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n
Reeve Whitson got within one shot of Selfridge’s lead at the 16th, but a bogey on 18 left the talented Mourne member two back, alongside West Waterford’s Gary Hurley, who played his final round in two-under par, and like Whitson moments before him, carded a bogey on the last.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n
The only other player to finish on par or better was Ardee’s Eugene Smith, who had tasted victory at the Munster Youths last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UT freshman golfer Chris Selfridge won the Irish Amateur Close Championship by three strokes over the holiday weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18095"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}