Barry Dyche prevails at Charlotte City Amateur golf tournament

Barry Dyche was keeping an eye on the competition during Sunday’s final round of the Charlotte City Amateur golf tournament.

All the competition saw of Dyche was his name firmly atop the leaderboard.

Dyche won his first Charlotte City Amateur title Sunday, closing out the tournament with a 1-under-par 70 at the Charlotte Country Club for a two-stroke victory over Bennett Smith.

Dyche, 39, finished the 56th annual City Amateur at 5-under 208 and was the only player over the three-day tournament to shoot at or under par each round.

“I hit it really good, and I hit the driver great,” said Dyche, whose previous best finish in the City Amateur was a tie for fifth in 2013. “I only missed one or two fairways all day, and hit a lot of greens. Maybe a couple more putts could’ve gone in, but I was pretty pleased with the score.”

Dyche entered the final day tied for the lead with Huntersville’s Patrick Cover. But the toughness of the course at the Charlotte Country Club soon began separating the field.

Of the 24 players to make the cut for the final round, only four shot under par Sunday – Dyche, Smith (70), Chris Jones (3-under 68, the low for the day) and Peyton White (69).

As the final group hit the back nine holes, Dyche began trying to keep up with how the rest of the field was doing.

“You always want to know where you stand,” Dyche said. “If you don’t, then you’re probably not where you want to me. You definitely don’t want to make a bogey when you don’t have to, and vice versa.”

Quote

“I thought I could catch (Dyche), but I didn’t make enough putts coming in. I had chances on 14, 15 and 17, and I didn’t make any of them. The course played hard, but it was in fantastic shape. It was the hardest course for sure.” – Smith.

Worth mentioning

Smith finished at 3-under 210, while Jones was at 2-under 211 and White tied with Cover (who shot a 3-over 74 Sunday) at 1-under 212. … Huntersville’s Joe Jaspers, last year’s winner and the only player to win the City Amateur five times, shot 74 Sunday to finish at 217, tying for 14th.

This story was originally published August 16, 2015 at 6:40 PM with the headline "Barry Dyche prevails at Charlotte City Amateur golf tournament."