Meeks Is U.S. Amateur Champion With 7 and 6 Victory Over Yates

HOT SPRINGS, Va. — After four years of disappointment, Eric Meeks finally succeeded at the U.S. Amateur golf championships.

“I’ve played well before, but not in anything as good as this. It was a good time to do it,” Meeks, 23, of Walnut, said after becoming the U.S. Amateur champion Sunday with a 7 and 6 win over Danny Yates of Atlanta.

In each of his four previous U.S. Amateurs, Meeks, from Friendly Hills Country Club, had missed qualifying by a stroke.

But this year, Meeks finished just one shot away from winning the qualifying medal.

Meeks, a two-time all-Pacific 10 player at Arizona, won the first four holes of the match with Yates, a 38-year-old insurance salesman. He scored three straight birdies to secure a 4-hole advantage midway through the 36-hole final.

In the second round, Meeks won the first 6 holes to go 10-up with 12 holes left.

The match ended at the par-4 476-yard No. 12, where both players made par. Meeks sank the winning 18-inch putt as a light rain began to fall.

Meeks was 5-under par after 18 holes and 7-under after 22.