A nice Little putt

The rain had finally stopped, mosquitoes were swarming, and the sun was beginning to set as Nick Little hunched over his golf ball on the 18th green at Farmington Country Club on Sunday evening.

All that stood between Little and one of the biggest wins of his amateur career was a 6-foot putt.

“It was a little nerve-racking,” Little said after the round. “I was doing back flips in my stomach.”

Judging by the end result, you never would have guessed that.

Little calmly sank the putt as the Farmington gallery — which featured many of his family members — erupted in applause.

“Luckily, I just put a good stroke on it,” said the 22-year-old Little, “and it went in.”

Little finished the day with a 1-under par 69. The Crozet resident who attends Radford finished 1-under for the tournament, edging David Passerell by a stroke. Scott Shingler finished third, two shots back of Little.

Little, who was playing in his first Kenridge, called the victory one of the best of his young career.

“This is a pretty significant amateur tournament,” Little said, “so it’s very exciting. It was a lot of fun.”

It was Passerell who provided most of the drama on the last hole. He sank a 20-foot birdie putt that put all the pressure on Little to sink his 6-footer.

“I hit some terrible putts coming down the stretch. I three-putted a couple of times and hit it in some spots where you just can’t expect to get yourself up and down,” Passerell said. “It was too bad, but to make birdie on 18 and make Nick have to make that putt — that’s all I could really ask for.

“When I was over the putt, I said, ‘Let’s see if we can make this interesting.’ It broke about 18 inches. It was probably one of the better putts I hit all weekend. No doubt about it.”

Little added: “He put a great roll on it and it went in…I knew I needed to make my putt.”

Little became only the second Charlottesville area player to win the Kenridge in the past 35 years. Tim Pemberton broke a 30-year local drought on the title when he claimed the Kenridge crown in 2003.

In the first round of the tournament, Little shot a club-record 67 (the Farmington course was recently reconfigured) and looked like the clear favorite. But then came a 3-over par 73 on Saturday, which included a very un-Little-like 41 on the back nine.

“I was just hitting the ball better and making more confident swings,” Little said. “[On Saturday] I was kind of losing confidence on the back nine and hitting it all over the place. Today I was making confident swings and the ball was going where I wanted it to.”

Meanwhile, Shingler — a former pro player who recently regained his amateur status — was fairly pleased with his third-place performance. The Gainesville resident shot 70.

“Nick and David played solid today,” Shingler said. “I just hit in the rough too many times and missed a few greens on the wrong side and couldn’t convert the up-and-down. That’s really what cost me the tournament.

“[Little] played smart and didn’t make many mistakes.”

Up next for Little is this weekend’s Cannon Cup at Spring Creek. After that, he’ll take aim at the state amateurs and state open.

Little, who will earn his degree in sports studies and business administration later this year, won the championship with his parents and grandparents in attendance.

“It was great to be able to bring it home with all of them watching,” Little said. “It was pretty special.”

Said Passerell: “I’m glad he won it. He’s got a great future ahead of him.”