Mark Turnesa stood on the 18th tee with a two shot lead yesterday, certainly remembering being in the same position last month at the Viking Classic. There he double bogeyed to fall into a tie and a playoff he eventually lost to Will McKenzie. No double today, instead it was tee shot into the first cut of the rough on the right (water along the left will do that to you), iron into the bunker on the right, blast out, two putt bogey to win by a shot.
“I only won by a shot, so obviously every birdie I made was important,” said Turnesa, the 30-year-old former North Carolina State star who broke the event mark of 23-under 264 set last year by George McNeill.
Mr. Turnesa is the fourth rookie to win on tour this year, and his rounds of 62,64,69, and the closing 68 were enough to move him into 75th on the money list and exemption for the next two years. Coming from a long line of champion golfers, Mr. Turnesa joins many family members as PGA Tour winners. His great-uncle, Jim, won the 1952 PGA Championship, and his grandfather, Mike, was a six-time winner on the PGA Tour who finished second to Ben Hogan in the 1948 PGA Championship. Mike was one of seven brothers, six of whom played on PGA Tour. One of those, Joe, was a 15-time PGA Tour winner. The only brother who didn’t turn professional was Willie, the 1938 and 1948 U.S. Amateur champion and 1947 British Amateur winner. “I don’t really feel like I’m carrying on a name,” Turnesa said. “I guess I am without even thinking about it. I’m just trying to play golf as best I can and that’s all I can really do.”
Matt Kuchar, one of the few recognizable names on the leaderboard, finished one shot behind after a closing 64. “It started playing hard on the last couple holes,” Kuchar said. “The wind really started picking up. Fifteen and 16 are definitely birdie holes that I missed opportunities on. But into the wind with some tough pins, I’m just not quite long enough (on the par-4 15) to get quite all the way there into the wind." Mr. Kuchar averages 275yds off the tee, which in the current world of hit the ball very very hard and very very hard translates into a rank of 186 on the tour. “Sixteen, had a layup. It was certainly an opportunity from 110 yards. I missed one short putt on the first hole—about a 6-footer for birdie. Other than that, I played some pretty solid golf.”
Another stroke behind at 22 under par were Chad Campbell(67), John Mallinger (68), and Michael Allen (70). Mr. Allen would have won the tournament outright on the final day had his putter not behaved like a tired two year old in church. It almost hurt physically to watch as the 49 year old hit quality shot after quality shot only to develope a tic on the greens. Another shot back were Tim Herron (62) and Davis Love III (67).
This time of year it’s fun to watch the money list after the tournament to see who has moved up into the top 125 and who needs to keep playing well, or at least better, to do so. Mr. Love III sits right at number 125, which means at this point he’s fully exempt next year based on merit from this year’s play. He won’t have to use an exemption for lifetime performance to get into tournaments. Of course he would probable garner 25 sponsor exemptions, thus does not face the same pressures as Mr. Turnesa, who went from 138th to 75th place.
On the other side of the coin is Patrick Sheehan, who began the week at inside the magic 125 number by three places and finished in 124th place. Still not safe. Had he not shot a final round 79 his position would have become less precarious. Chris DiMarco followed up his third round 63 with a 73 and only moved up six spots to 141 on the list.
As a side note, it seemed like the Sunday afternoon crowd numbered in the hundreds. No roars, no lined fairways or surrounded greens. I didn’t see the earlier rounds, so I don’t know if it’s due to football, or if the folks in Vegas just have other things to do on Sunday afternoon.
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