Jim Stuart

Jim Stuart defeated Bert Atkinson, 1 up, in the final match at Long Cove Club to become the first player to win consecutive Mid-Amateur titles and the second to capture multiple championships. Only Stuart and Jay Sigel, the Mid-Amateur champion in 1983, 1985, and 1987, have won the championship more than once.

Stuart, 33, of Macon, Ga., sank an 18-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole, the only birdie of the final, to defeat Atkinson, 33, of Charleston, S.C.

Stuart appeared to have things well in hand in the final, taking a 4-up lead to the 12th hole, but over the next four holes he faltered. He made three bogeys and one double bogey, losing all four holes and bringing the match to all square with two holes remaining.

But Stuart reclaimed the edge when he hit his approach on the par-4 16th hole to 18 feet and made the putt. Atkinson then had a chance to halve the hole, but his 9-foot putt just missed to the left. The players halved the par-3 17th with pars and the par-4 18th with bogeys.

Stuart advanced to the final by defeating Paul Simon, of Raleigh, N.C., 5 and 4, while Atkinson beat Danny Yates of Atlanta, 2 and 1.

William Hadden of North Haven, Conn., who was runner-up in the 1989 championship, was medalist with a 36-hole score of 4-under-par 138. He advanced to the third round before losing to John Harris, of Edina, Minn., 6 and 5.

The first round of match play included a number of upsets; among those eliminated were Sigel, Allen Doyle, a member of the two most recent U.S. Walker Cup teams, and Mitch Voges, who one month earlier had won the U.S. Amateur.