The secret to Bobby Leopold’s win in record-breaking RI Amateur performance wasn’t hard to

WARWICK – Bobby Leopold thought he was going to lose the Rhode Island Golf Association’s 119th Amateur Championship match on the 36th hole.

Short left of the green, he didn’t watch Michael Hamilton’s approach – a mental trick to help him stay focused on his own game – that finished 12 feet left of the hole. After a terrific up-and-down, Leopold figured Hamilton – who had made two birdies in the final nine holes to tie the match – was about to deliver the finishing blow.

When it didn’t, everything changed.

“I was like ‘OK, I have a chance here. He’s given me a chance to win this,’” Leopold said. “When I was standing on 18 green with him putting, I didn’t think I had that chance.”

Leopold made the most of it. The two players exchanged pars on the first two playoff holes before Leopold stuck his approach to 12 feet on the third. Hamilton’s shot found tree branches and Leopold snuggled his putt close enough to earn the win on the 39^th hole, giving Leopold his second straight title and fifth overall in the longest match in the history of the Amateur.

“I was happy to shake anyone’s hand who beat me this week and with that mindset, I wasn’t afraid to lose,” Leopold said. “That’s a nice mentality to have because sometimes it’s ‘I don’t want to lose to that guy’ or ‘I don’t want to lose in the first round.’

“I wasn’t afraid to have someone beat me.”

“He’s on a historic run and I’m just happy to have hung with him,” said Hamilton, who was runner up to Kevin Blaser in 2022. “Obviously I would have liked to have won, but [Leopold’s] up and down on 18 is one of the most clutch things I’ve ever seen, so you’ve got to hand it to him.

“I just wish I would have made the putt.”

Hamilton had to fight to get the chance.

It was a long day at Warwick Country Club. Players teed off at 7:30 and at 9:15, with Leopold up one, the first of two lengthy weather suspensions started. At 11:30 the match resumed, only to be paused again at 12:50 with Leopold now two up.

Leopold and Hamilton ate lunch and tried to dry off. They were set to return to the course at 3:10, but it was pushed back another 15 minutes as rain continued to fall.

On 18, Leopold landed short of the green, took advantage of casual water on the course and dropped to drier land that gave him a better angle to the hole. He chipped in, had a 3-up lead and, with how Leopold played all week – he was the stroke leader after Day 1 and Day 2 of qualifying and was never really in trouble during match play – the result seemed in hand.

Hamilton managed to get one back on No. 1, but it wasn’t until the back nine that the match shifted dramatically.

Leopold missed a chance to extend the lead to three on the 10^th hole and on 11, missed the green left as Hamilton stuck one close before making birdie. Two holes later, Hamilton rolled another birdie to tie the match.

“Some people, you can hope they’re going to give you some things out there. Bobby’s not going to give you anything,” Hamilton said. “You’re always trying to beat him because he’s never going to beat himself.”

On 15, Hamilton got into tree trouble on the right and had to play for par he didn’t convert. Leopold struck a brilliant shot from 185 yards out, navigating branches of his own, before making a par. On the par 3 17^th, Leopold missed the green right and couldn’t get up and down. It wouldn’t have mattered because Hamilton rolled a birdie, sending the players to 18 tied.

Leopold’s drive went in the left rough and his approach landed short left of the green, almost in the same spot he was in the first 18. Hamilton, dealing with an awkward stance in the fairway, 155 yards out, landed his approach just short of pin high before it spun back on the softened Warwick greens.

After seeing where his shot finished, Leopold looked down. He didn’t look up – not even to watch Hamilton’s shot – until he reached his ball.

“It doesn’t matter what the other person does if you can stay in your own bubble and just focus on what you have to do,” Leopold said. “I tried not to watch. I found myself over the years watching other people.

“… I was just focused on what I had to do which was chip it in or if Mike hit it close, it was a great shot. I kind of did that all week – just focused on what I had to do and what was in front of me.”

Leopold checked the lay of the land and reminded himself not to decelerate the club in the same fashion he had on the previous hole. He clipped it perfectly and nearly rolled the thing in. It was the first time he didn’t make birdie on 18 all week.

After Hamilton couldn’t convert his birdie look, Leopold found himself with new energy.

Both players had similar looks on No. 1, but neither could convert their birdie putt. On No. 2, Hamilton made a terrific up and down – nearly holing the chip shot – and Leopold had to settle for a two-putt par.

On No. 3, both found the fairway. Leopold, 140 yards from the hole, hit a wedge that was pure the second it left the face of the club, The ball landed nine feet short, then spun back. A good shot…