Shriver edges Baloga in Maryland Mid-Am playoff
Former Maryland Amateur champion Will Shriver celebrated a long absence from competitive golf with a victory Tuesday in the Maryland Mid-Am. Shriver, 26, a former player at Loyola, beat current Loyola golf coach Chris Baloga on the third playoff hole at Towson Golf & Country Club.
Shriver (72-69 – 141) made a tap-in birdie at No. 17 to force a playoff. In sudden-death, Shriver made three pars. Baloga (70-71 – 141) matched on the first two holes but failed to get up and down from just off the green on the third extra hole (No. 7). Baloga was coming off a stellar 2010, winning the Maryland and D.C. Mid-Am titles and qualifying for the U.S. Amateur.
Brad Foxwell (71-71 – 142) of Baltimore had the lead on the back nine, but made bogeys on the final two holes and dropped to third place.
Shriver opted out of competitive golf after an unsuccessful trip to PGA Tour Qualifying School in 2008.
“I played some club events, but nothing at this level,” Shriver told John Stewart of the MSGA. “In the spring, though, I got the itch and have been a little more active since then.”
Shriver, a member at Green Spring Valley Hunt Club, won the Maryland Amateur in 2003, shortly after his graduation from Gonzaga. That same summer, he won the Frank Emmet Schoolboy and combined with his father, Bill, to capture the Mid-Atlantic Father-Son.
