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Chattanooga ended up being well represented on the final Southern Amateur leaderboard, but Andrew Black, who finished third, and Ricky Honeycutt, who finished fifth, couldn’t help but think about what might have been.

Black shot a 3-under-par 69 at The Honors Course on Saturday and finished with a four-day total of 283, five strokes behind winner Michael Sim. Black, who two years ago finished second in the Southern Amateur at Atlanta’s East Lake, would have finished second again had he been able to master the par-4 18^th hole. Black bogeyed it three of the four days, including Saturday.

"The 18^th was a problem for me, but I’d love to play one round over again," Black said.

He was referring to his second round. After shooting 67 and taking the first day lead, Black came out the next day and shot 76.

"That was a tough day," Black said. "It was disappointing to follow up the first round like that."

Black worked hard to put himself back within striking distance of Sim, who took the lead after a second-round 66, with a third-round 71. He entered Saturday’s final round at two under par and knew he’d have to do something dramatic to catch Sim, who completed 54 holes in nine under.

"My goal today was to shoot a 67 and hope that maybe [Sim] stumbled a little bit. But it doesn’t look like he did. To shoot that low [10 under par] out here… That was great playing."

Black wasn’t so bad himself on Saturday, putting together his third sub-par round of the tournament. He birdied No. 1 and 6 on the front side and turned at two under par, four under for the tournament. Still seven shots behind Sim, Black was nevertheless hopeful.

A bogey at No. 10 didn’t dampen Black’s spirits. He followed that miscue with consecutive birdies at No. 11 and 12. He birdied again at the par-5 17^th, but bogeyed the 18^th. That allowed Spencer Levin, one of the heroes of last month’s U.S. Open, the opportunity to move past Black into second place.

"I really didn’t know how I stood," Black said. "I didn’t want to know. I just figured I had to make as many birdies as I could coming in."

Honeycutt, who shot 69 on Saturday for a 285 total, thought the same thing as he entered the final round at even par for the tournament. But a three-putt bogey at No. 1 seemed to sap his energy for a time. Honeycutt failed to birdie the par-5 second hole, so he was behind before he got started. Things were to change in a hurry.

On the par-3 third hole, Honeycutt launched a 6-iron at the pin. It took once bounce, slammed into the flagstick and dropped into the hole for a hole-in-one, the second of Honeycutt’s career.

"It was one of the worst shots I hit all day," Honeycutt said. "But it landed on the right part of the green. It hit the flag going a hundred miles an hour, but it dropped into the hole."

Honeycutt birdied No. 9 and turned at two under for the day and the tournament. He made two more birdies on the back nine, including one at No. 15. The par-4 hole had beaten Honeycutt up the previous two days. On Thursday, Honeycutt was lucky to slip away with a triple bogey. Friday, Honeycutt double-bogeyed the hole.

"I could look at 15 as the hole that cost me the tournament," said Honeycutt, who piled up 28 birdies and that ace in five rounds at The Honors this week, including Monday’s qualifier. "But everybody out here probably had one hole or a swing they’d like to take back. That’s golf."

Honeycutt, whose pre-tournament goal was to make the cut, was pleased with his finish, if not his consistency throughout the week.

"I made a lot of birdies this week," Honeycutt said. "I played pretty good golf. I can’t be disappointed or say what could have been. I didn’t expect this much going in, so I’ve got to be happy."