Barton beats darkness, field to win Spanish Oaks Open
SPANISH FORK — With darkness making it difficult to read the greens, and only enough light to possibly play one more hole, former Dixie State golfer Andrew Barton rolled in a four-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole Sunday to win the Spanish Oaks Open over BYU freshman-to-be Zach Blair.
The two amateurs finished tied at 6-under par 66 after 18 holes in the rain-shortened tournament. After both made scrambling pars on the par-4 No. 1 on the first playoff hole, they headed to the par-5 second as darkness began to settle in.
Blair pull hooked his drive left, hitting a tree and leaving him with a pitch out down the fairway. Barton's drive split the middle and left him only a 3-iron into the green. However, he hit the approach shot short and to the right, leaving him a touch chip shot from a downhill lie to a tough pin location.
After Blair hit a sand wedge to within 10 feet, Barton knew he had to get his chip close. He flipped it up softly to four feet past the cup. Blair, a dead-eye putter, burned the top edge on his birdie try - opening the door for Barton to grab the victory.
"I had a chance and hit a good putt, so there's nothing you can do about it. But I played good today," said Blair, who was coming off a win Saturday at the Golden Spike Amateur at Eaglewood Golf Course in Brigham City.
Even though Barton's four-foot putt was quick and broke about three inches from left to right, he trickled it in for his second open victory this spring. He also won the Glenmoor Open last weekend.
"Any time you can win a couple of open tournaments, and two in a row, that feels pretty good," Barton said. "This is as good of a win as any other I've had."
Barton and Blair took different paths to their 66s. Blair birdied all our of Spanish Oak's par-fives. Barton, on the other hand, played the par fives at even par, with a birdie on No. 2 but a bogey on No. 3. However, he birdied five par fours.
"I had a lot of one-putts today," Barton said.
Chris Moody, Brent Moyes and Ryan Rhees - all with a 5-under 67 - tied for the low professional honors and split the paychecks for the first three spots. Amateurs Nick Nelson and Jordan Rogers also shot 67.
Rhees got into the hunt by making birdie on three of his final five holes... Moyes also got hot late, making birdie on two of his final three holes. Moody was 6-under but made a bogey five on the par-4 fifth hole - his second to last hole - to miss the playoff by one.
At 68 were pros Dustin Volk, Jim Blair, Brett Black and Pete Stone, and amateur Curtis Gallegos. Volk's 4-under round came despite making a triple-bogey eight on the par-5 18th.
E-MAIL: jimr@desnews.com
Recent comments
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