Alex Bock becomes youngest Burke County Open champion in 15 years

Three days of sweltering heat, some late final-round pressure from last year’s runner-up, and the nerves that had to accompany playing the tournament for the first time.

Alex Bock stayed cool through it all at the annual Burke County Open, which began Friday, July 25, at Mimosa Hills Golf Club and continued the next two days at Silver Creek Golf Club.

Bock shot three consecutive rounds in the 60s to both become the youngest winner and finish with the lowest score in the 54-hole event since fellow Freedom High School graduate Mitchell McGlamery in 2010.

Only three other players in the championship division (and four total in the field) broke 70 in any round, each doing so once.

Bock led wire-to-wire, using an opening-round 67 and second-round 69 to pull into a two-stroke lead over Dylan Lancaster of Spindale, who had carded rounds of 68 and 70, respectively. That pair dueled in what amounted to a two-horse race Sunday, five strokes clear of defending champion Steve Jetter in third place.

In Sunday’s final round, Bock moved from 8-under par to 11-under for the tournament by the turn as he made birdies on the par 5 second and fifth holes as well as on the par 4 seventh hole to open up a comfortable six-shot margin over the left-hander Lancaster, who played the front nine in 1-over 37.

But Lancaster got hot, making birdies at Nos. 10, 11, and 13 to surge to 8-under while Bock slid back to 10-under after a bogey at the 11th hole. Bock’s lead could have been trimmed under two strokes down the stretch without a scramble par at the 12th after he had found the hazard.

After the duo traded pars at the par 4 14th hole, Bock took over on arguably the two toughest holes on the course.

The 19-year-old Bock’s drives split the fairways on both the par 4 15th and 16th holes. On No. 15, his 7-iron up the hill from 163 yards to a back pin ended inches off the putting surface, on the fringe on the back-left. From there, his quick, left-to-right breaking 25-foot putt found the bottom of the cup for a three-shot lead.

On the 16th, Bock’s pitching wedge from 121 yards, again up the hill, landed about 8 feet behind the back-middle hole location, leaving him a straight, uphill putt that he rolled in for another birdie to reach 12-under and lead by four.

“I didn’t know how close it got. I was just trying to not worry about it and handle my game,” Bock said. “The birdie on 15 helped a lot just getting some momentum back. That’s a tough hole too, and to make a long one (was big). Not even just the putt going in, but to have had good pace on it helped coming in as well.

“Once it gets to the hole it’s downgrain. It was a fast putt. When I hit it, I honestly thought I left it a little short, but the grain just kept on taking it down, and it went right in the middle (of the cup).”

Bock followed those birdies with routine, two-putt, tap-in pars on Nos. 17 and 18 to claim the title by four strokes, posting an impressive three-day total of 204 as Lancaster (8-under) had to settle for second place once again.

Amid a busy 10-day stretch of tournament golf for the UNC-Charlotte rising sophomore golfer — which included trying to qualify for the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro and playing in this week’s N.C. Amateur Match Play Championship at Rock Barn Country Club — Bock said he almost didn’t sign up to play the Burke County Open.

He’s certainly glad now that he did … with a little convincing from his father Duane Bock, a PGA Tour caddie for nearly the last 20 years now. Duane caddied all three days of the Burke County Open for his son.

“I wasn’t gonna play in it but then Dad was like, ‘You’re gonna be playing a lot of golf anyway, and you’re going to be in a cart,’” Alex Bock said. “So, I thought I might as well play and give it a try. And I played well. I made two bogeys all week, and they were both three-putts on No. 11 (at Silver Creek).

“It’s always fun to have (my dad) with me. He can’t caddie for me as much because a lot of tournaments don’t allow it. But he’s caddied for me twice, at the Kenridge (Invitational) up in Virginia and at the North and South (Amateur Championship in Pinehurst), which was pretty fun considering he’s a past champion in that. … He knows better than anybody my tendencies and what I do, and I trust him. So, it’s just like playing a round at home. It’s awesome. I like it.”

Duane afterward agreed, calling it “one cool week for me.”

“One of the coolest things in life is being able to watch your kids compete,” he said. “Fortunately for me, sometimes I’m also able to be in the ‘arena’ with them and help along the way. Hopeful there will be many more of these opportunities for me in the future.”

Alex Bock is no stranger to winning. His already nearly 12-year tournament resume includes victories at the Dan Dobson Junior and Frank Bowers Junior Club Championship, both at Mimosa, where his family are members.

He has also won the HV3 Invitational at Gaston Country Club, won medalist honors in 16 matches spanning his junior and senior seasons including earning Burke County individual prep champion honors in both 2023 and 2024 at Silver Creek, and won four consecutive player of the year honors in the Northwestern 3A/4A Conference, leading his Patriots to four straight league titles (plus two straight county team titles).

He was a two-time Freedom male athlete of the year, two-time NCHSAA 3A West Regional champion (and one-time runner-up), and four-time NCHSAA state qualifier, finishing in the top 15 on each occasion.

Still, Bock said winning the Burke County Open was immediately among his favorite accomplishments in the sport.

“It’s up there. It’s something I wanted to win,” he said. “But no matter what you’re playing in, even if you’re just playing with your buddies, you always get the nerves coming down the stretch trying to win, people watching. It’s always just a good learning experience as well for whatever comes up in the future.

“I think my course management is getting better. I also chipped and putted well as well. But then also just staying in the process. I know if I can stay with what I do, after two bad holes for instance like 11 and 12, it’s not going to get too far off course on me.”

Silver Creek member and course record-holder Chase Holland — who aced the 133-yard, par 3 13th hole at Silver Creek in round two with a pitching wedge — shot a final-round 69 to finish in third place, one shot ahead of Jetter.

In the senior division, Keith McGillvary of Hickory finished the tournament at 5-over as he defended his title by holding off Morganton’s Keith Avery by one stroke despite Avery closing with a birdie on No. 18. McGillvary shot 69, highlighted by four birdies against just one bogey, as he overcame a three-shot deficit entering the final round.

And in the super senior division, 70-year-old David Simpson of Morganton shot a Sunday 71 that included three birdies to finish the event at even-par and win by eight strokes over three-time senior division champion Brandon Godfrey of Marion.

It was the former Burke County Open director Simpson’s first title in the event after having played it regularly since the 1970s. And the win continued a stellar two-year run for Simpson, whose resume in that span includes a super senior club title and Bubba tournament title at Silver Creek and a member-guest title at Mimosa.

“I’ve been playing pretty well,” said the former Quaker Meadows Golf Course general manager and former Freedom and Patton golf coach Simpson. “This weekend, I was putting it really well, had a lot of two-putts from long range and didn’t have a three-putt in 54 holes.”

Simpson won the first flight, and McGillvary won the second flight. Other flight champions included Josh Jetter (championship B), Chris Joyner (championship C), Alan Reed (third flight),

Jim Tilley (fourth flight), Kenny McDowell (fifth flight), Tom Harrell (sixth flight), Michael Leonard (seventh flight), Kevin Pfahl (eighth flight), and Freddy Ortega (ninth flight).