Benjamin Smith started the final round of the 92nd New Jersey State Open Thursday with a two-shot lead, and he needed every inch of separation to capture the prestigious C.W. Badenhausen trophy at the Mansaquan River Golf Club in Brielle on the Jersey Shore.
Coming to the final hole tied with playing partner and fellow amateur Niall Handley, Smith hit a terrific second shot from the right rough to five feet from the hole and only had to two-putt for par and the win, because Handley couldn’t get up and down from behind the green and made bogey.
Smith, the 25-year-old who plays out of Little Mill Country Club in Marlton, N.J., shot a 2-over 74 for a three-round total of 4-under 212, one better than Handley (Essex Falls) and veteran pro Bill Britton (Trump National-Colts Neck).
“I felt like no one was swinging the club better than me,” said Smith, the first amateur to win the event since Brian Komline in 2007. “I never gave up. I just kept going.”
Smith now has his first local major championship after finishing second in both the New Jersey State Amateur last year and the Golf Association of Philadelphia Amateur this May. Smith, of Voorhees, N.J., had his opening rounds of 68 and 70 hold up under the pressure of circumstance and the small and undulating greens drying out.
“There are just so many more young players with a chance to win than there used to be,” said pro David Glenz of Black Oak, the four-time winner who finished tied for 31st at 7-over.
bcyrgalis@nypost.com