Jack Larkin

Jack Larkin, 17, of Atlanta, Ga., played eve-par golf to defeat Billy Tuten, of Palatka, Fla., 1 up, in the final at the Moss Creek Golf Club, Hilton Head Island, S.C. Nathaniel Crosby,, of Hillsborough, Calif., and Rick Fehr, of Seattle, Wash., were the co-medalists with 36-hole qualifying scores of 148.

Crosby lost in the second round, 3 and 2, to Wevv Heintzelman, and Fehr lost, 2 and 1, to Wright Waddell in the quarter-finals. Larkin qualified with scores of 82 and 77 for 159, but he was never over par in his matches. He defeated Stuart Smith, 2 and up; Donnie Cude, 7 and 6; Greg Tebutt, 6 and 5; Webb Heintzelman, 1 up; and Tommy Moore, 2 and 1.

Tuten defeated Peter Parsons, 3 and 2; Mark Visintainer, 6 and 4; Ty Roush, 2 and 1; Mark Tschetter, 1 up; and Wright Waddell, 1 up, in the semi-finals. In the final, Tuten won the first hole with a par.

Larken birdied the second and fourth holes to take a one-hole lead. When Tuten won the 10th and 17th holes with pars to even the match. On the final hole, Tuten drove into the left rough, one foot behind a small pine tree; he shanked his second shot into the trees and the ball was lost.

Meanwhile, Larkin had hit his best drive of the day and played his second shot onto the back of the green. After an unsuccessful search for his ball, Tuten conceded the match. The 1,848 entries were short of the record of 2,230 set in 1963.