Vermont Amateur: Drake Hull seals 3-peat at Rutland Country Club

RUTLAND - When the skies finally opened up in earnest on the 72nd hole, those big, heavy drops plummeting downward faster and faster, Drake Hull was ready to greet the deluge. 

His left hand held his trusty putter. 

His right: A triumphant, raised fist.

Three-peat complete.

From a humid morning in which he coughed up the solo lead, to a midday weather delay that threatened to cut short the tournament, to a final-round duel with Bryson Richards in which he briefly gave up the lead, Hull showed his champions' poise at every turn, breaking away late for a 6-stroke victory in the Vermont Amateur at Rutland Country Club on Thursday.

The 22-year-old home course favorite fired a bogey-free 4-under 66 in the afternoon — matching the number he put up in Tuesday's opening round — as he finished the event at 5 under par. He's the first golfer since Trevor Murphy (2005-2007) to capture three consecutive Amateur crowns, adding to prior wins at Dorset Field Club (2017) and Country Club of Vermont (2018).

More:Drake Hull takes aim at Vermont Amateur three-peat at Rutland Country Club

"I remember when I didn't have any," Hull said. "It's crazy."

"I still remember the Burlington (Amateur) when I lost that one down the stretch," he said. "I learned so much from that, stuff I still draw from. I didn't handle that situation well, but from Dorset on I've played some really, really clutch golf down the stretch." 

More:Vermont Amateur: Hull's lead cut to 2 as Rutland Country Club strikes back

Richards, the recent U-32 grad, began the last 18 holes tied with Hull at 1-under and grabbed a two-shot edge early in the afternoon. But he succumbed to a double bogey on the 17th hole and fell to a tie for second with Brattleboro's Jacob Zaranek at 1-over.

"Bryson played so good," Hull said. "He really impressed me with how he played. It was stressful, for sure — more stressful than the score indicates." 

[Full results below.]

Quechee's Pat Pelletier nabbed solo fourth at 4-over. Rutland's Jared Nelson and Mountain View's Phil Fairbanks tied for fifth at 5-over, followed by Mount Anthony's Cory Jozefiak and Rutland's Garren Poirier in seventh at 9-over.

Rutland's Logan Broyles claimed ninth and Country Club of Vermont's Aidan Melville took 10th. 

After conceding half his lead during Wednesday's action, Hull hung on at 1-under with a morning tour of even-par 70. But the Rhode Island-bound Richards posted a 68 to catch him and send the pair out all-square to start the afternoon.

An afternoon that almost didn't get off the ground.

Vermont Golf Association officials tried to start the round twice, each chance derailed by dangerous weather in the area. When the players went out for the third attempt they did so knowing any more weather would lead to the cancellation of the final round, Hull and Richards aware it would send them to a playoff for their 54-hole tie. 

"I tried to make sure that I was ready to play 18 more holes," Hull said. "This morning I made a concerted effort to conserve energy."

Richards bagged early birdies at the second and fourth holes to move to 3-under — two clear of Hull — before the reigning champ mounted his charge. A pair of birdies by Zaranek also had him in the mix, level with Hull, but the Fairfield University junior couldn't maintain the pace.

"I knew when I had the two-shot lead there that it might not last unless I go out and make some more birdies, because when he gets a wedge in his hand it gets so dangerous," Richards said. "I knew I couldn't play too conservative — I felt like the whole round I was going toe to toe with him."

A Richards bogey at No. 5 and a Hull birdie at No. 6 got the pair back to level. When Richards bogeyed the par-4 eighth, Hull took the lead for good.  

At the short par-4 10th, Hull padded his lead with a birdie after rolling in a sharply curling effort from 8 feet. Then Richards erased that much of the lead with a birdie at the par-5 13th, following a gutsy par save one hole before.

The one-shot margin persisted until the short par-3 15th, where the momentum swung to Hull for good. Richards left his tee shot hanging about 18 feet above the pin and watched his slippery birdie bid kiss the front of the cup before peeling wide.

"I thought I made it. It was like a foot out and I saw it bleeding towards the cup," Richards said. "Maybe the rain, being a little wetter, slowed it down a bit."

Hull responded by pouring in his 6-foot chance from below the hole following a tee shot that scared the pin.

Pars on 16 for the duo — each sank his testy par putt — set the stage for the final two holes. Moments after Hull dumped a wedge within 2 feet at the 17th, Richards' approach shot came up well short in the hazard to set up a double bogey that all but clinched the title.

A soggy two-putt par on the final hole rubber-stamped the outcome.

"That guy has won two amateurs in a row and to grab the lead at one point, after being down three after yesterday ... to stay really toe to toe with him the whole time, that's a lot," Richards said. "Obviously I wanted to win, but there's definitely a lot I can take away going forward into college golf."

• Caddie's notebook: The site for the 2020 Vermont Amateur has yet to be determined. ... Thursday's final round, despite the delay, played 4.8 shots easier than the second round did Wednesday. The field averaged 74.6 for the round with the fourth and 17th holes each playing slightly below par. 

Contact Austin Danforth at 651-4851 or edanforth@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @eadanforth.

2019 Vermont Amateur Results

72-hole scores

At Rutland Country Club

(Par 70) 

1. Drake Hull  ... 66-73-70-66--275 (-5)

T2. Bryson Richards ... 70-71-68-72--281 (+1)

T2. Jacob Zaranek ... 71-72-68-70--281 (+1)

4. Pat Pelletier ... 70-71-71-72--284 (+4) 

T5. Jared Nelson ... 71-71-75-68--285 (+5) 

T5. Phil Fairbanks ... 71-75-68-71--285 (+5) 

T7. Cory Jozefiak ... 72-71-75-71--289 (+9) 

T7. Garren Poirier ... 73-72-71-73--289 (+9) 

9. Logan Broyles ... 72-73-76-69--290 (+10) 

10. Aidan Melville ... 76-73-71-71--291 (+11) 

T11. Nick Ojala ... 74-77-69-72--292 (+12)

T11. Eric Lajeunesse ... 74-74-72-72--292 (+12) 

13. Gary Shover ... 75-74-75-69--293 (+13) 

14. Peter Christenson ... 71-71-76-76--294 (+14) 

15. Stephen Waite ... 74-79-72-71--296 (+16) 

16. Nelson Eaton ... 73-75-76-73--297 (+17) 

T17. Taylor Bellemare ... 75-79-73-72--299 (+19) 

T17. Paul Heffernan ... 75-73-78-73--299 (+19) 

T17. Stephen Carknard ... 74-71-77-77--299 (+19) 

T20. Brian Cain ... 73-77-75-75--300 (+20) 

T20. Ritchie Snow ... 72-75-73-80--300 (+20) 

T22. Andy Hunnewell ...  73-76-76-76--301 (+21) 

T22. Frankie Sanborn ... 74-72-75-80--301 (+21) 

T24. Brody Yates ... 74-80-75-73--302 (+22) 

T24. Jay Zanleoni ... 76-72-73-81--302 (+22) 

T26. Bill Wilkinson ... 74-76-80-73--303 (+23) 

T26. Erik Lindahl ... 77-73-75-78--303 (+23) 

T26. Harrison Thayer ... 76-75-80-72--303 (+23) 

T26. Tyler Parker ... 77-77-75-74--303 (+23) 

T26. Scott Rankins ... 74-75-79-75--303 (+23) 

31. Dan Cole ... 72-78-80-74--304 (+24) 

T32. Andy Weigand  ... 74-77-76-78--305 (+25) 

T32. Robert Wells-Rogers ... 76-76-72-81--305 (+25) 

T34. Erik Bertalan ... 75-76-76-79--306 (+26) 

T34. Jake Orr ... 75-76-78-77--306 (+26) 

36. Aaron Wood ... 72-79-76-82--309  (+29) 

37. Seth Anderson ... 78-76-79-77--310 (+30) 

38. John Franzoni ... 75-77-79-81--312 (+32) 

39. Steve Merrill ... 73-78-85-80--316 (+36)

40. Kyle McLane ... 78-76-87-81--322 (+42) 

Glen Boggini ... 76-73--DNF