Anderson’s Phillip Mollica made history over the weekend, becoming the first player in the 68-year history of the Monroe Amateur Golf Tournament to take top honors in the event twice. Mollica, set to enter his senior season at Clemson University, fired a 6-under par 274 to win the tourney at the course in Pittsford, N.Y., adding to his victory there in 2006.

Mollica had rounds of 67-71-70-66 to hold off Maryland Terrapins golfer Chris Gold for the win. Mollica finished fourth at the Sunnehanna Amateur a week earlier.

“I felt a little nervous going into the last round in 2006, but this time I wasn’t,” Mollica said. “I had been in this position before.”

The Monroe Golf Club is a par 70, 6,787-yard layout, but the par 5s on 3 and 14 were played as par 4s for this tourney.

With the victory, Mollica has moved to 56th in the latest Golfweek World Amateur rankings. He is 23rd among United State golfers.

Kyle Stanley, who played in the U.S. Open last week before missing the weekend cut, is ranked second in on the World Amateur grid.

Mollica is the fourth golfer with ties to Clemson to win the Monroe in the last seven years. D.J. Trahan, who finished fourth at this past weekend’s United States Open, won the tournament in 2002. Brent Delahoussaye was the 2003 victor.

David May, Mollica’s classmate at Clemson, also had a strong showing at the Monroe, finishing fourth with a four-day total of 282.

For Mollica, the win at Pittsford was another achievement in what has become an outstanding amateur career.

During his junior year with the Tigers he averaged 74 for the season and tallied 68s at three different tourneys — the Puerto Rico Classic, The Hootie and the Augusta State Invitational.

A winner of the North-South Amateur, he tied for the team lead in par 3 scoring in 2006-07 with 3.19 average, and was team leader in pars/round with 11.11.