Jodie Mudd

Jodie Mudd, 21, of Louisville, Kentucky, became the first golfer in 19 years to win consecutive Amateur Public Links Championships. R.H. Sikes was the last to win two in a row in 1961 and 1962. Mudd defeated 1981 Dixie Amateur Champion Billy Tuten in the final, 3 and 2, on the Masters Course of the Bear Creek Golf World in Houston, Texas.

Mudd beat the heat to keep the Public Links Trophy in the family for the third time in the past six years. Brother Eddie won the Amateur Public Links title in 1976. Roy Biancalana of Chicago, Illinois won medalist honors with a superb 36-hole score of 138 under difficult weather conditions. Mudd shot 141 to qualify easily for the match play. Biancalana exited in the first round failing to Mike Miles of Cypress, California, 1 up, in 19 holes.

Mudd had some close calls en route to the final. After eliminating Greg Morrison of Richardson, Texas, 4 and 3, Mudd needed a birdie on the 18th to square his second match with Mark Saatzer of St. Cloud, Minnesota and then birdied the first extra hole to close it out. Next, Mudd was 3 down after 10 holes to Doug Hixon of Crooked River, Oregon, but won four in a row on the way to a 2 and 1 triumph.

He swept to a 3 and 1 quarter-final victory over David Anthony of Nashville, Tennessee, and to a 2 and 1 semifinal decision against Danny Elkins of St. Petersburg, Florida. Tuten, the 1979 Junior Amateur runner-up and 1980 Amateur Public Links semifinalist from Palatka, Florida defeated Richard Dalpos of Lemont, Illinois, 3 and 2; Phil Arinno of Citrus Heights, California, 2 up; Vic Wilk of Sepulveda, California, 1 up, 20 holes; Mark Seki of Kahului, Hawaii, 6 and 4; and Andrew Soley of Cedar Lake, Indiana, 2 up.

Both Mudd and Tuten showed the strain of the heat and the competition in the 36-hole final. Mudd, however, was 3 up at the lunch break and 5 up through 28 holes. Tuten managed to win two more holes, but he pulled a birdie putt of five feet at the 15th, which cost him dearly.

The match was over on the 16th hole. In August, Mudd became the first Amateur Public Links Champion since R.H Sikes to be named to the United States Walker Cup Team. On a sad note, Mudd's father, Edward L. Mudd, a member of the USGA Public Links Committee, passed away in Louisville, not long after witnessing his son's victory in Houston.

The Chicago Team, led by Biancalana's stylish play, won the Warren G. Harding Team Trophy, emblematic of the Amateur Public Links Team Championship. Biancalana combined with Soley and Nicholas Zambole of Palatine, Illinois for a 435 total, 19 strokes better than the 454 of the Houston Team. The USGA received 4,318 entries, short of the record, 4,601 set in 1975.