Justin Martinson wins Philadelphia Amateur

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - About a month ago, Justin Martinson wrapped up a great stretch of golf in which he won the Colonial Athletic Association championship and tied for 13th in the NCAA South Regional thanks to a 68-67 finish.

But Martinson, entering his senior year at Delaware, wondered whether he could regain that level of play when he returned to competition last Monday in the Philadelphia Amateur.

Well, he did. Martinson wound up 1 shot out of sharing medalist honors in qualifying and won five matches at Saucon Valley Country Club's Old Course. He concluded the week Saturday with a 2-and-1 victory over Michael Kania for the championship of the 110th Amateur conducted by the Golf Association of Philadelphia.

"It was a long layoff, so it's kind of like, 'Do I still got it?' " said the 21-year-old Martinson, of Avondale.

"I was putting well three weeks before the tournament. A week before the tournament, not doing so well, not hitting it well. I feel like I tuned it up right before the stroke play and kind of kept it together the rest of the week."

Martinson, of Hartefeld National Golf Club, was 2 down at the end of the morning phase of the 36-hole match. Kania, 19, who just completed his freshman year at Kentucky, won the last two holes of the initial 18 despite being warned for slow play.

Kania, of Overbrook Golf Club, maintained his lead through seven holes of the afternoon round before his driver failed him and Martinson's putter heated up.

Martinson won four of the next five holes, capping that stretch with a 10-foot birdie putt at the 12th to go 2 up.

"I've been in that position before - the last match on Wednesday - so I kind of knew what I had to do," he said of the deficit. "I like the back nine a lot. So I felt like I was in OK position and I got my head back on straight, started making a few putts, and it worked."

Kania skulled a bunker shot on the 14th hole and went 3 down, then mounted a comeback with wins at No. 15 and No. 16 to restore some suspense. But he caught a flier out of the rough at 17, knocking his approach 25 yards over the green, then saw an attempted flop shot sail over the front of the green.

After Martinson cozied a 30-foot birdie try to 18 inches, Kania conceded the match.

"I just struggled, and he had some good holes over a stretch and took a little bit of a lead," Kania said. "I was definitely disappointed, but I wasn't going to give up hope down the stretch. I tried to fight to the end."

Kania, of Haverford, was trying to make GAP history. His father, James Sr., won the 1995 Philadelphia Amateur. His older brother, James Jr., lost in last year's championship match. No father-son duo has ever won the Amateur.