Top local amateur Jarryd Dillas endured another frustrating time at the Azalea Invitational last weekend.After winning a fourth Bermuda Amateur Match Play Tournament recently in windy and wet weather at Mid Ocean Club, Dillas was hoping for better conditions when he competed again in last weekend’s 65th Azalea Invitational in South Carolina, hoping to make the cut for the first time.However, the top amateur tournament fell victim to the bad weather as the rainy and windy conditions forced the tournament to be cut to 36 holes (Thursday and Friday) with Dillas sitting in a tie for 65th with four other players in the field of 112 players, after shooting rounds of 79 and 73 at the Country Club of Charleston.High school senior Austin Langdale of Townville, South Carolina was declared the winner of the Azalea Invitational after his two-round seven-under-par 135 (66-69). Langdale, a Clemson University signee, finished two shots ahead of North Carolina mid-amateur Scott Harvey.A three-hour rain delay during round three on the Saturday prevented the players at the top of the leader board from finishing that round and the tournament was subsequently shortened to 36 holes. Langdale called it the biggest victory of his career. As for Dillas, great disappointment after high expectations.“Overall, I was very disappointed with my performance at the Azalea, I had some pretty lofty goals for the week and I was definitely expecting to score a lot better than I did,” said the Bermudian.“Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be, and the tournament kind of sputtered out on Saturday as heavy rain and thunderstorms rendered the course unplayable and made it impossible for the entire field to complete the final two rounds.”Dillas had chosen to compete in the Azalea Invitational which conflicted with the Bermuda Open last week in order to improve on previous disappointing performances at the tournament in South Carolina. “On hindsight, perhaps my tournament preparation wasn’t ideal,” he acknowledged.“My last official stroke play event was back in October at the World Amateur Team Championships in Turkey, and since then I’ve played in two four-ball competitions and the Amateur Match Play at Mid Ocean earlier this month, formats which don’t really penalise errant shots and bad holes to the extent that individual stroke play does.“And I think my play last week reflected that; I had three double bogeys in the first round and my 73 on day two could have easily been something in the mid-sixties had I been sharp and took better advantage of my scoring opportunities.”Undeterred, Dillas is now setting his sights on more local and overseas competition. “Looking back on the week now, I think it was perhaps a poor result at a good time,” he said.“I’ve got six weeks until I head to Massachusetts for the first stage of US Open qualifying, after which I’ll compete in a number of local and international amateur events, including the Amateur Stroke Play at Port Royal in June and hopefully the NatWest Island Games in July.“I’m confident that I’m on the correct path with my swing, but I’ll probably give my putting a bit of an overhaul over the next few weeks to help freshen things up and get me excited about that part of the game again. I’m looking forward to the challenge of preparing for summer and I trust that my hard work will pay off with some better results in my next few starts.”At the Azalea, Will Long of Gastonia, North Carolina, finished third at four-under 138, one shot behind Harvey. Junior Ryder Cup players Cameron Champ and Jim Liu finished tied for fourth with Carson Young as Liu's second-round 63 set a new competitive course record at Country Club of Charleston.Other notables in the field included four-time US Mid-Amateur champion Nathan Smith, who tied for 20th at 3 over. Smith was one shot better than fellow Walker Cup hopeful and mid-am Todd White.Former PGA Tour pro and 1997 Azalea Invitational champion John Engler finished tied for 12th. He shot rounds of 73-70 to finish at one over par.