Chip Alexander, Staff Writer
RALEIGH - It had completely slipped Jack Fields' mind until he was on the first tee Sunday at Raleigh Country Club.
"Oh, yeah," he said, turning to his father, Mike. "Happy Father's Day."
Not that Mike Fields, serving as his son's caddie, really minded.
"He gave me the greatest Father's Day gift ever," he later said.
All Jack Fields did was blaze his way to an 8-under-par 63 in the final round of the North Carolina Amateur. It was a round that included a double eagle, an eagle and five birdies, a round marred only by a couple of bogeys.
The masterful round gave Fields a one-shot victory over Zack Byrd of Calabash, who nearly forced a playoff on the final hole, burning the lip of the cup on a long birdie putt. It was a round that had everyone at the club -- competitors, club members, owner John McConnell, Mike Fields, other onlookers -- shaking their heads.
"You can't take anything away from one of greatest rounds ever shot on this golf course," Byrd said. "There wasn't a 63 out there that I could see."
After a third-round 74, Fields was seven shots behind. But the 18-year-old from Southern Pines, who missed his Pinecrest High graduation to play in the N.C. Amateur, refused to believe he didn't have a chance Sunday.
"We were watching Tiger Woods in the U.S. Open Saturday night," Mike Fields said. "He was hanging in there, hanging in there, and got back in it."
Fields got back in it in a big way. After two early birdies, he eagled the par-5 eighth hole, leaving a 3-wood second shot from 255 yards three feet from the pin.
At the par-5 12th, Fields was 266 yards away. He again ripped the 3-wood and knew he had made a good swing.
But double-eagle good?
"I didn't see it go in," Fields said. "We were walking up to the green and one of the parents put up two fingers."
Fields, headed to North Carolina to play college golf, has made two holes-in-one at the Country Club of North Carolina. But a double eagle is the rarest shot in golf.
"On the range, I wasn't hitting the 3-wood well at all," Fields said. "On the first hole, I used the 3-wood and fanned my tee shot. I said, 'I'm not hitting the 3-wood the rest of the day.' "
That was then. One day, it might be bronzed and on his wall.
"I might hang on to it for a while," Fields said.
Fields later birdied the par-4 16th hole to move to 9 under for his round. But he three-putted for bogey at the 17th, then parred the 18th to close at 1-under 283.
It's called "posting a score," and it proved to be too much for those playing behind him.
Kevin O'Connell of Cary, who led after the second and third rounds, was struggling. Reed Darsie pulled to a shot down but bogeyed the 17th. Byrd bogeyed the 16th but birdied the 17th to stay in contention.
Byrd, 22, was long on his approach at the 18th, leaving a 40-foot birdie try. His downhill putt was pure, and the ball seemed to be tracking the cup. "Perfect speed, perfect line," Byrd said.
But the ball nicked the left lip, causing an anguished Byrd to race around the green before bounding up a slope to shake Fields' hand. Byrd, a rising fifth-year senior at Coastal Carolina, had a 70 to close at par 284.
Darsie, who just finished his senior year at UNC, was third at 285. Henry Zaytoun III of Raleigh, a member of the Tar Heels' golf team, was at 286 after a 69.
O'Connell, another UNC golfer and the 2008 ACC freshman of the year, finished sixth after a 75.
"I don't recall ever coming from behind to win," said Fields, the state 4-A champion at Pinecrest this past year. "We talked last night that if I could shoot 66, it might get me somewhere."
A 63 got him the N.C. Amateur trophy -- and a chance to say a few words.
"I want to thank my dad," Fields said. "He kept me calm. Thanks for caddying for me, Dad."
Some Father's Day.
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