University of Florida senior T.J. Vogel won the 2012 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship defeating Kevin Aylwin at Soldier Hollow Golf Course in Midway, Utah on Saturday.
Vogel won 12 and 10- winning 12 out of 26 holes while making 10 birdies and no bogeys - defeating Aylwin and claimed the championship.
"I felt [more] comfortable today than I felt the entire week," said Vogel, a senior at the University of Florida, according to the report in USGA.
"Normally when I wake up I feel anxious, like I can't eat, I just want to get going. Today I was able to eat. I felt so confident that it just blocked out any of the pressures that I had. Nothing was going to stop me," he added.
Vogel was transferred from the University of Southern California to the University of Florida in 2011 after spending two years at USC. His father Joe is a coach to the women's golf team at the Florida International University (FIU).
With this victory, Vogel receives exemptions into the next two U.S. Amateurs, a three-year exemption from local U.S. Open qualifying, provided he remains an amateur and is likely to be invited to take part in the 2013 Masters tournament. "It's in the back of my head," said Vogel according to USGA, "but it's too surreal right now to be thinking that I'm going to be playing in the [2013] Masters. Once I get that [likely] invitation, it will hit me."
The USAPL championship was started in 1922 and the first event was conducted at the Ottawa Park Course in Toledo, Ohio, to bring in many public-course players who may not be getting a chance to play in the national championships. Since 1989, the winner of the USAPL has been invited to play in the historic Masters championship.
The 2013 Masters championship will take place from April 11 to 14 at the Augusta National Club in Augusta, Georgia.
