Champion Brock Mackenzie of Yakima, Wash., and course record-setter Roger Sloan of Merritt were "singeing" in the rain Sunday at Uplands Golf Club.
Mackenzie dropped a 35-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to capture the $40,000 first prize in the $250,000 Times Colonist Open to join a pantheon of past champions from the Canadian Tour event that includes current or former PGA Tour players Steve Stricker, Craig Parry, Jason Bohn, Ken Duke, Brandt Jobe and Kelly Gibson.
"This feels so amazing and means a lot to me, but hopefully I won't see you [people in the Victoria tournament] next year," joked Mackenzie, who hopes to be back in the Nationwide Tour for 2011.
"But no matter where I go or where I end up in my career, nobody can take what happened here today away from me," added the former University of Washington Huskies all-American, who played in the 2004 U.S. Open and helped lead the U.S. to the 2003 Walker Cup.
"This is kind of how you dream of finishing a tournament."
No kidding.
Mackenzie's dramatic winning putt earned a loud roar from a rain-sodden but surprisingly large gallery that ringed the 18th hole and gave the former Huskies star a four-under 66 in the final round for a 14-under 266 over four rounds.
It avoided a three-way playoff with top-Canadian Adam Hadwin, an Abbotsford native out of the NCAA University of Louisville Cardinals, and Aaron Goldberg of Carlsbad, Calif., a two-time NCAA All-American out of San Diego State, both at 13-under 267. Goldberg's bid to tie Mackenzie with his final putt missed by mere inches as he and Hadwin settled for prize earnings of $19,500 each.
"Aaron [Goldberg] and I went back and forth all day," said Mackenzie.
"I whispered to him before our final shots that, 'One of us needs to make their putt.' I didn't want to go another [overtime] hole. I putted it straight and it went clean downhill. When it was about a foot out and still rolling, that's when I knew for sure it was going in."
Sloan, meanwhile, shot the lowest round in the 88-year history of Uplands with a course record nine-under 61 Sunday to break the old standard of 62 held by several golfers. He closed out tied for fourth place at 11-under 269.
The 23-year-old, who learned the game in the Nicola Valley of British Columbia, earned $11,000 along with co-fourth place James Allenby of Langley. But he has much bigger ambitions.
"I want to be top-20 in the world," said Sloan, who was coached in the NCAA at the University of Texas-El Paso by 1997 and 1991 Times Colonist Open winner Rick Todd.
Despite Sloan's scorching Sunday, the day and the week belonged to Mackenzie, the steady 28-year-old from just across the border. One thing about having played his collegiate career at the University of Washington: Mackenzie was well acclimatized to Sunday's rainy spring conditions.
"Coming from Seattle, this Victoria tournament had a real hometown feeling for me," he said.
The real hometown hero, 50-year-old PGA Champions Tour "rookie" Jim Rutledge of Victoria, tied for 17th at four-under 276 following Sunday's one-under 69, which gave him $3,750 for his efforts.
"This is obviously not where I wanted to finish coming into my hometown pro tournament and my home course," said Rutledge, a veteran of the Canadian, Asian, European and Nationwide tours.
"But there are no excuses. I played poorly on a course I know well. It was a slack week. I never got any momentum going."
Someone who did was Hadwin, whose withering 63 Sunday brought him into a second-place tie with Goldberg and within one shot of winner Mackenzie.
"I had a great day and this was an unbelievable experience for me . . . I've never played for anything close to $40,000 before," said the 22-year-old Hadwin, from just a ferry ride away in the Fraser Valley.
"The Canadian Tour is the proving ground for the Nationwide Tour, and that's where I want to go, if not the PGA."
Several of the golfers left Victoria for sectional qualifiers this week for the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
The next stop on the Canadian Tour is the $250,000 ATB Financial Classic by Telus beginning June 28 at the Edmonton Country Club. |
