From Deseret News archives:

Rustand awarded State Am title

Forfeit declared; opponent won't play on Sundays

Published: Saturday, July 10, 2004 11:19 p.m. MDT
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However, at No. 14, Sharp chipped in from off the green for a birdie to win and when Rustand missed a short par putt at 15, the match was tied.

At this point all the momentum seemed to be on Sharp's side, but at No. 16 Sharp's second shot landed in the bunker, while Rustand's hit the green. Sharp's sand shot went 25 feet past and he couldn't get down from there, meaning all Rustand needed was a two-putt to win the hole.

At 17, Sharp came up short on his tee shot and missed an eight-footer for par and when Rustand two-putted from 25 feet, the match was over.

The first person to greet Rustand coming off the green was Miller, and the two talked briefly with Rustand telling Miller the two should be co-champs.

In his interview right after the round, Rustand said the first two options were to play Monday or make him and Miller co-champions. Of declaring a forfeit, he said, "That's the last option. I'd regret that because I've looked forward to playing Todd all day."

However, about a half hour later Rustand accepted the decision of the UGA and was beaming as he held the State Am traveling trophy bearing the names of the former champions.

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Rustand's caddy, Carl Jensen, was almost happier than Rustand about the victory. Jensen and Rustand were teammates at UVSC a few years ago and have remained close friends. When Jensen made the finals against Sharp a year ago, he called Rustand in Arizona on Saturday night and Rustand immediately found a flight to Utah the next morning so he could watch the finals, which didn't turn out the way they wanted.

"Carl is my cheerleader," said Rustand. "My biggest struggle in golf is reading putts and he helped me a ton this week. He wanted revenge against Tommy, and for me to get here and beat Tommy was a thrill for him."

In the other semifinal match, Miller was only one up going into No. 9, but won the hole when Bingham hit into trouble. Then he ran off wins on the next four holes, sinking birdie putts at 11, 12 and 13 to close out the match. Once again he had his father, Johnny, caddying for him and helping him stay positive.

"Clay really had a bad day, for him," said the younger Miller. "That's as bad as I've seen him play."

In the Saturday morning quarterfinal match, Bingham had knocked off medalist Jake Ellison 2 and 1 in one of the best-played matches of the entire tournament. Ellison was well under par and even had a couple of eagles, but lost to Bingham who was about 8-under.

Sharp defeated Brandt Hoffman 2 and 1, a day after Hoffman eliminated Annie Thurman from the tourney, while Rustand beat DeWald 3 and 1. Miller defeated SUU golfer Ben Smuin 5 and 3 in the other quarterfinal.

While Rustand will forever be known as the 2004 State Amateur champion, perhaps he and Miller will settle things on their own sometime.

"I was looking forward to playing him," Rustand said. "Maybe we'll do it at an undisclosed location later."


E-mail: sor@desnews.com

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Caddy Carl Jensen (left) and Clark Rustand react to Rustand's miss of a long putt in semifinal play at the State Amateur tournament Saturday.

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