A year ago, Brandon Detweiler's contribution to an epic Lanco Amateur championship included a back-nine 28 but no trophy.
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"I want to win this very badly," Detweiler said at the time. "I intend to win it."
He wasn't kidding, and he wasn't quitting on this year's Lanco, even after a triple-bogey four holes into Saturday's final round and a front-nine 41 at Lancaster Host Resort left him seemingly buried at four over par.
Say this for Detweiler: He never gives up, and he treats back nines the way tidal waves treat seaweed.
He came home in 31 shots this time to finish at 72-72-144, let the leaders come back to him, outlasted Dave Richards in a three-hole playoff, and, yes, got the trophy.
The same one his Dad, Marlin, won three times.
They're the first father-son Lanco champions.
"It's a load I've carried for a while," Brandon said afterward. "I guess I con't have to carry it any more.... Wait, I guess I still do, because [Marlin] won it three times."
Detweiler is a 22 year-old senior-to-be at N.C. State, the same school where Marlin, the 1974 PIAA champion, played college golf, for the same coach, Richard Sykes
Brandon's top golf achievement is reaching the round of 16 of last year's U.S. Amateur, and his top golf characteristic is that he hits the ball trans-area-code lengths.
Consider some highlights from Saturday's killer back nine:
On the 10th, a 385-yard par-4, he drove it in a greenside bunker. On 13, which is 410 and has water that's a 290-yard carry, he drove it almost green-high.
"The rest of the field's laying up there and hitting an 8- or 9-iron [second shot]," Marlin said.
On 17, listed at 430 on the card, Brandon drove it within 40 yards of the green.
The 18th, a 520-yard par-5?
Driver, 8-iron.
Brandon swears he's played with one guy who hit it farther than him, a couple years ago in a state better-ball.
That guy's name, if not his DNA, was Moose. Justin Moose. Not making that up.
Detweiler was playing three groups ahead of the first-day leaders, and had no idea if his pillaging was having any impact.
"I've seen a lot of funny things, and obviously, with what happened last year..." he said.
"Really, though, I was just trying to make some birdies for an ego boost."
The golf behind Detweiler was unspectacular, largely because the Host was a formidable test on this day, with hard greens and tough, tucked pins.
First-round leader Chris Fieger, who shot 69 Friday, was plugging along at one under for the tournament until he pushed a tee shot at the par-3 11th, which rattled off trees and went out-of-bounds, leading to a triple-bogey 6.
Eventually things seemed to cook down to defending champ Zac Drescher, the Campbell (N.C.) College standout, and veterans Dave Richards and Jud Gemmil.
Gemmil was solid all day but didn't make much, and finished tied for sixth at 146.
Richards seemed to be getting, in his own words, "squirrelly," in the middle of the back nine when he suddenly holed a bunker shot for a par at 15 to take a one-shot lead, at least within his threesome.
Richards bogeyed 16 but so did Drescher, who three-putted. Drescher also three-putted 17, while Richards parred to seemingly take a two-shot lead.
Drescher birdied the par-5 18th with an excellent long-iron second shot and two-putt, but his bid to repeat came up a shot short, meaning those three-putts had to sting.
Maybe not. The kid seemed as unflappable as he did a year ago, when he birdied the last three holes in regulation to force a playoff he then won over Detweiler.
"I played all right, I just struggled down at the end," he said calmly.
Richards finished with 71-73-144.
The playoff was British Open-style, a three-hole aggregate over 16, 17 and 18.
It was a bit anticlimatic. Both Richards and Detweiler parred 16 routinely. Richards three-putted 17, and Detweiler birdied 18 to close the door.
Richards has won the Lanco Amateur twice and the Lanco Open once.
But he's 51 now, and has to squeeze golf in among the activites of five kids (ages eight to 23) and his dental practice ("See you in the chair," somebody told him).
"I play a couple times a week," he said. "I don't practice any more. I'm happy with the way I played. I don't see any negatives."
Detweiler and Drescher will move on to the North-South Amateur next week in Pinehurst, N.C., and then a summer of state and national amateur events and, down the road, it is hoped, a PGA Tour career.
The Lanco remains a bigger event in the context of all that than you'd think. Especially if there's family history.
"When my kids were young, I kinda dreamed of things exactly like this," Marlin Detweiler said.
"Here it is."
Mike Gross is assistant sports editor of the Sunday News. E-mail him at mgross@lnpnews.com.
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