Mike Winter wins 16th Pub-Links Championship at Rock Spring
August 20, 2020 - Mike Winter of NJSGA eClub-South shot a two round, eight-under-par 134 (66-68) - the two lowest rounds of the day - to easily capture the 16th New Jersey State Golf Association Men’s Public Links Championship on Thursday at the par-71, 6,572-yard Rock Spring Club in West Orange.
Winter, who last fall won the inaugural NJSGA South Jersey Cup at the Atlantic City Country Club, outdistanced co-runners-up Tom Timby of Mercer Oaks (71-70-141) and former Public Links champion Paolo Matti of Plainfield West (72-69-141).
Mike McComb of Twisted Dune was fourth (71-70-142). Tied for fifth were Kevin Russell of Ash Brook (69-74-143) and Jonathan Ross of NJSGA eClub-North (70-73-143).
Winter, who lives in Ocean City and is a native of Hamilton Square, carded six birdies against only one bogey in his morning round. In the afternoon, he registered five birdies against one double bogey. Both blemishes came on the par-4 8th hole.
The 2019 graduate of St. Peter’s University often practiced with the team at Rock Spring. At St. Peter’s, Winter won three college tournaments and was all-conference for three seasons.
“For my first two years at St. Peter’s, we practiced here almost every day. This is a second shot golf course. The fairways are pretty wide and forgiving. With the green complexes being the way they are, you definitely need to hit good iron shots,” said Winter.
“Historically for me, off the tee has been the struggle. As of late, I’ve been dialing in on my three wood and driver and I found a lot of the fairways today. I only missed a handful of shots off the tee and they weren’t even that bad.”
Winter said he has been working hard on that aspect of his game.
“That’s been the big thing, just working the ball… little cuts, little draws; whatever the hole requires. It feels good to win today. Every golfer can attest, it’s tough to get it all going. Once those good days happen, you feel no matter what, you’re going to do well. It comes easy to you. Today, that was the case,” he said.
Before he returns to Florida in the fall, Winter, who finished tied for 28th in the recent NJSGA Amateur Championship, is considering playing in the New York City Amateur, and the Mercer County Amateur, both scheduled for September.
In Florida, he works at Champions Gate in Davenport, Fla. While there, he plans on playing in the St. Augustine Amateur, the Orlando City Amateur and selected events on the Florida Professional Tour.
“I’ll probably stay an amateur until January or February. After that, I’d like to get status on the PGA Latin America Tour or the McKenzie Tour (PGA Tour-Canada) and work my way up from there. As for now, they both have Q-School scheduled for next spring. That’s kind of the hope,” Winter said.
“The last few weeks I’ve been struggling a bit in scoring the ball and fixing the issues between the ears. It’s definitely a huge confidence booster to win this.”
