CORDOVA, TN --  Prior to winning the 103rd Southern Amateur Championship, UCLA sophomore golfer Gregor Main listed his career high as making the cut in the PGA Tour Buick Open at Torrey Pines a few months earlier. "But this is definitely bigger," Main said after winning the Southern Am at storied Colonial Country Club just outside Memphis. "Getting a 'W' in a big tournament like this is much bigger.”

      Main, 20, the Pac-10 Freshman golfer of the year from Danville CA, posted a solid final round 70 for a 16-under-par 272 total and two-stroke margin over runnerup Taylor Hall of LaGrange GA. Hall had shared the lead with six holes to play, but his double-bogey 6 at the 14th hole left Main with a clear run at the title.

.     Overnight co-leader Mark Silvers could manage only an even-par 72 and was among a trio four shots back tied for third.

     The victory earned Main an exemption to play in the PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Invitational, which awards a berth to the Southern Am winner each year. "I'm truly excited about that. A chance to play in my second Tour event is awesome," he said.

     The tournament was plagued by rain from the outset. A five-hour weather delay during the Thursday opening round had officials playing catchup with each of the first three rounds extended to the following morning.

     Main opened with a 5-under-par 67, one stroke behind a trio of first-round leaders. He duplicated that in his second round, spread over two days, and shared the 36-hole lead with decorated SEC scholar-athlete Silvers at 134. Silvers, a Savannah GA native who rang up a 3.92 GPA as a finance major before graduating a month earlier from South Carolina, and Main remained tied at the top when third round play was suspended by darkness.

      Two weeks after the tournament, Main's conquest earned an additional honor when he was selected as the SGA's National Amateur of the Month for July.