By Rich Chrampanis
MANASQUAN – Jack Wall has experienced great thrills in his golf career. He started as a state champion at Christian Brothers Academy and went on to big-time college golf at the University of South Carolina and Texas Tech. Wall’s latest victory was extra special as he earned a prestigious amateur title on his home course.
The graduate student is New Jersey State Golf Association’s Amateur Champion after winning a three-hole aggregate playoff against St. John University’s Jack Simon.
Wall entered the fourth round four shots behind the Big East individual champion before rallying at Manasquan River Golf Club. He closed out his 72nd hole with a birdie to shoot 2-under par and 3-under overall. Simon used a birdie on the 16th hole to force the three-hole playoff.
Wall was sensational in the high-pressure spot with two pars and a birdie to comfortably win the playoff and earn the Edwin M. Wild trophy in front of family and friends, including his older brother Jeremy who finished two shots behind in third place.
“It was a little extra motivation,” Wall said in an NJSGA press release. “The membership and everybody who came out, they’re so supportive and the area is so supportive. I’m just so thankful to be a member at such an awesome club and to have it here is awesome. I definitely felt another little added benefit there, which was nice.”
Following three years with the Gamecocks playing golf in the SEC, Wall transferred to Texas Tech where he has one more year of eligibility. His greatest collegiate moment came over the winter when he won the Genesis Invitational Collegiate Showcase at the famous Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. The win earned him a spot in the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational hosted by Tiger Woods. Not only did Wall make his debut with the top pros in the world, but he also got a chance to interact with the legend himself.
“What an unbelievable experience,” Wall said in a Golf Channel interview in February. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing to meet arguably the best golfer of all time and hang out with him a little bit is really special.”
Wall shot a respectable 74-72 to finish just three shots off the cut line at the Genesis. He now puts his 2022 NJ Amateur with his 2020 Met Amateur titles near the top of his résumé. The 2019 CBA graduate looks to close out his college golf career with results that can put him in the position of a professional career; 2017 CBA alumni Chris Gotterup is the blueprint. Gotterup won the Jack Nicklaus Award for college golf’s best a year ago at the University of Oklahoma and is currently full-time on the Korn Ferry Tour. He has already won over $500,000 in 13 PGA Tour events.
The article originally appeared in the July 20 – 26, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
