AGA NEWS Bacon’s golden moment in golf


captures AZ Amateur crown Tops defending champ, medalist for first big win


and lost the hole as Triplett sank a 3-foot eagle putt after driving the green. “I shot a bogey-free 66 and hit all 18


PING engineer Cory Bacon captured the 92nd Arizona Amateur.


n BY JOHN DAVIS A


gold-plated putter in the PING vault might have to wait. For now, Cory Bacon has plenty to celebrate.


The 26-year-old PING club designer


captured the 92nd Arizona Amateur Championship in August by defeating the medalist and the defending champion in his final two matches at the Country Club at DC Ranch. What makes that all the more impressive is that it marked his first- ever tournament victory. “It was amazing,” Bacon said. “I


played a lot of good golf. It really just felt like I finally put it all together in a big tournament. To say it is the highlight of my career would be a huge understatement. It is the pinnacle for me.” Bacon grew up in Cypress, Calif., just


like Tiger Woods, playing golf courses around the Disneyland area before heading to college at Colorado School of Mines, where he was a second-team NCAA Division II All-American. While there, he served two internships at PING and, after earning an engineering degree, went to work for the Phoenix club-maker. He finished second to a teammate in


his college conference championship and also finished second in the 2013 Arizona Stroke Play Championship, losing to Christopher Petefish on the third playoff


28 | AZ GOLF Insider | FALL 2016


hole at TPC Scottsdale. In this year’s Amateur played in late August, he finally got over the hump. “I played in the U.S. Four Ball and


Mid-Amateur last year, so I gained some national-level experience, which really helped my game,” Bacon said. “But I haven’t played very much match play and I really enjoy that type of competition, where you only have to beat one guy that day, just the guy standing right beside you.” In this case, that guy was Ken


Tanigawa, the 2015 AZ Amateur champion, who tied for sixth in this year’s Arizona Open, finishing as the low amateur. Bacon prevailed 3-and-2 on a blustery day that made for brutal conditions at times. He never trailed in the match and held a 2-up lead after nine holes, then pushed it to 3-up when Tanigawa bogeyed the 14th hole. “That was really the turning point,”


Bacon said. “It put me 3-up with four to go and, at that point, I felt like I was in control and it would take a lot for me to mess it up.” But the key to Bacon’s championship,


he said, was his 19-hole semifinal victory over medalist Sam Triplett, which featured a brilliant display of golf by both players. One example came at the par-4 12th hole, where Bacon made a 12-foot birdie putt


greens in regulation and we were still tied,” Bacon said. “That’s how good the match was and how well we both played.” On the first extra hole, Triplett struck


a 35-foot birdie putt that was center cut but stopped on the front lip of the hole, settling for a par. Bacon knocked in a 3-foot birdie for the win. The two golfers had played together in


qualifying, where Triplett topped the field, shooting 8-under-par 132. Making it even more special is that Triplett’s father, Kirk, is a tour pro sponsored by PING and has worked closely with Bacon on club design. “The championship match was great


but the semifinal was the match of the week for me because that’s where I played my best golf,” Bacon said. “I saw Sam light it up in qualifying and I knew how tough it was going to be playing against him. I have so much respect for him and for Kirk, who is so humble and such a pleasure to work with.” The PING vault contains hundreds


of gold-plated replicas of putters used by tour pros in their victories. Whether he gets one or not, Bacon said, he is “grateful” to be associated with the PING family. “If that happens, it would be fantastic,”


he said. “But they have already been so great to me, not only giving me my dream job, but giving me the time to play in these events and pursue my other passion, which is golf. “And I got a very nice note of


congratulations from (PING chairman) John Solheim. I truly appreciate all of that and I really couldn’t ask for anything more.” n


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