A vast majority of The Honors Course’s visitors huddled around the No. 18 green late Saturday afternoon.
They missed an amazing finish.
Henrik Norlander holed out a lob wedge from 84 yards to eagle No. 17 and clinch Augusta State’s semifinal victory over Florida State.
Patrick Reed polished off his 1-up win over Brooks Koepka moments later, giving the Jaguars a 4-1 victory over the Seminoles.
But Reed’s finish already had been rendered inconsequential, thanks to Norlander’s “perfect” wedge.
“I knew that green sloped pretty hard from back to front, so I could be aggressive,” the junior said. “I couldn’t see it go in, but I knew it was perfect.”
Carter Newman gave Augusta State an early lead with his 4 and 3 win over Michael Hebert, and Florida State’s Seth Lauer leveled the score with a 4 and 3 defeat of Michael Krywulycz. Taylor Floyd then overcame a stomach bug to put the Jaguars one point from victory with a 2-up win over Wesley Graham.
“Taylor could barely even walk out there,” Augusta State coach Josh Gregory said. “During the delay, I told him he didn’t have to play. He said, ‘Coach, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.’ Then he closed his match with a birdie on 18.
“I’ve never been so proud. He was about half dead, and I almost didn’t allow him to play.”
Floyd and his teammates now are allowed one more day to play. Not so the Seminoles.
“We are all sad right now,” Florida State coach Trey Jones said. “But once this kind of wears off, we will realize what a great year we had.”