Kings Park's Amicizia wins Suffolk golf championship

Facing a lengthy but crucial 35-foot putt on the 17th green at the Suffolk County championship, Frank Amicizia told a teammate he was "calling in the bomb squad."

Amicizia then dropped a bomb of his own, sinking the putt and pulling into a tie for the lead heading into the final hole. He went on to drain an 8-foot downhill putt for birdie on the 18th, giving him a dramatic one-stroke victory for the Suffolk individual title Tuesday at Indian Island in Riverhead.

"I picked my line, stuck with it and it just dropped," the Kings Park junior said of his putt on 17. "I couldn't believe it. It was surreal. The crowd went crazy but I think I went a little more crazy."

On that very hole two years ago, Amicizia's chances of qualifying for the state tournament came to a crushing end. Needing par on the final two holes to advance, Amicizia's tee shot on 17 hit the top of a golf cart and trickled out of bounds. He double-bogeyed the hole and missed the cut by one stroke.

Unfortunately for the competition, there were no golf carts in his way this year.

Amicizia entered the second round of the Suffolk qualifiers seven strokes behind the leader, Christian Dolan of Islip, who shot a qualifier record 65 Monday. With Dolan struggling, Amicizia dominated the back nine, culminating with four birdies on the final four holes.

Amicizia's final birdie gave him a two-day score of 2-under-par 142 and spared him a three-way playoff with Dolan, who left his birdie putt on 18 just short, and Bay Shore's Jack Maerki, who sank an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole to tie Dolan at 143.

Also qualifying for the state tournament beginning June 5 at Cornell are East Islip's Brian Allmendinger (153), Longwood's Justin DiMarco (154), Deer Park's Kyle Morris (155), Smithtown West's Tom Burton (155), Half Hollow Hills West's Brandon Jaffe (155), and Ward Melville's Tom Jannace (155).

Amicizia, along with A.J. Rapp (162), Joe Orlando (164), Nick Hein (168), Steve Wibben (169) and Mike Fletcher (171) combined for an aggregate score of 803 and led Kings Park to its second straight team county title. It edged out Half Hollow Hills West (810) and East Islip (817) to advance to the Long Island championship against the Nassau winner June 1 at Bethpage Black. Although it will be hard for Amicizia to top Tuesday's drama.

"It was one of the most amazing things I've seen in my time of watching all sports," Kings Park coach Jim Pappas said of Amicizia's performance. "It was Tiger Woodsian what he did today."