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SMCC's Cecil Belisle Qualifies for 2021 U.S. Amateur Championships
Posted: Jul 08, 2021

SMCC's Cecil Belisle Qualifies for 2021 U.S. Amateur Championships

PHOENIX ---

Cecil Belisle of the South Mountain Community College men's golf team has qualified for the 2021 U.S. Amateur Championships August 9-15 at Oakmont Country Club and Longue Vue Club in Pennsylvania. Belisle finished at eight-under, 136 at the Lake Panorama National Golf Course in Panora, Iowa, to place second at the qualifier event.

Belisle opened with a two-under, 70 on the first day and then carded a six-under, 66 on the second day of competition to finish three strokes behind Harrison Ott of Vanderbilt University. He will now advance to the match-play event in Pennsylvania, which will initially be split among the two courses.

Oakmont Country Club has hosted more combined USGA and PGA championships than any other course in the U.S., including nine United States Opens, five U.S. Amateurs, three PGA Championships, and two U.S. Women's Opens. Longue Vue has been a Pittsburgh-area treasure since 1920 and Robert White, the first President of the United States PGA (1916-1920), designed the course. 

This year, Belisle received the 2021 NJCAA Division II Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award, presented by Strackaline. He won three tournaments during the 2021 spring season, including the NJCAA Division II National Championships, and held a scoring average of 70.36 over 14 rounds of competition.

Belisle finished at six-under, 282 to win Individual Medalist honors at the NJCAA Division II National Championships May 18-21 at Swan Lake Resort in Indiana. After the first two rounds, he was nine-under-par and finished at even-par 72 in the final round to win the event. He later received NJCAA Division II First Team All-American honors.

He also received First Team ACCAC Division II and NJCAA Region I honors earlier this spring. He claimed individual medalist honors with a four-under, 276 over the four rounds at the NJCAA Region I Division II tournament, including a five-under performance over rounds two and three. He also won the Scottsdale CC Invitational Mar. 1-2 at Hillcrest Golf Club.

As a team, SMCC finished as National Runners-Up at the 2021 NJCAA Division II National Championships, won all seven tournaments it played in Arizona in spring 2021, and posted the individual medalist in every tournament it entered.