Mark Cusic Wins the 14th Annual Amateur Public Links
Mark Cusic shot a par matching total of 71 to win the Championship of the Maryland State Golf Association’s 14th Public Links tournament. The scheduled 36-hole program at Greystone Golf Course July 28 was reduced to a single 18-hole round because of stormy weather conditions in the afternoon.
Tracy Vallandingham had posted a 71 as well, which put the two in a tie for first place. Vallandingham later disqualified himself for not including a penalty and signing an incorrect scorecard.
Mark was on the final tee of his round at the first weather delay shortly afternoon, so he knew where he stood when they went back out about 2 p.m. He was in the clubhouse when the horn blew signaling a final stoppage in advance of a soon-to-arrive storm.
Cusic, runner-up to champion Steve Delmar in 2012 in this event, started on the back and turned 2-under. A double-bogey (a 3-putt at the third) and a bogey left him 1 over through the fourth but he got back to even with a birdie at the fifth and finished 38-33. The northern Baltimore County course was played at 6,819 yards to a par of 36-35–71.
In the 2012 event, Delmar led Cusic by two after the first round at Falls Road GC, but three front-nine birdies helped Cusic get even through the sixth. Two Delmar birdies on the back nine sent him in front and a Cusic birdie at the 17th still left him one behind. He finished 68-140 to Delmar’s 69-139.
This time, Noah Davis, from Mountain Branch GC, was runner-up after a round that included four birdies and a triple-bogey (also at the third) on his way to 72. Adam Dodson was third with 73, aided by three back-nine birdies, and John Dustin and Dan Walker, both playing out of University of Maryland GC, finished fourth and fifth respectively with 75 and 76 in the 57-man field.
Reported by: John Stewart
