At the close of play Saturday at the 2018 AT&T Pebble
Beach Pro-Am the scene was set for a Jack-the-Giant-Killer scenario – World #1
Dustin Johnson, a two-time winner in this event, in 2009 and 2010, surged to
the top of the leaderboard with a 64 at Pebble Beach, but a few miles away, past
the Lone Cypress, around the curve of Cypress Point along 17-Mile Drive, Ted Potter,
Jr. was making some magic happen at Monterey Peninsula Country Club, carding a
9-under 62 to jump up onto the top step with DJ for Sunday’s final round.
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| 2018 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am winner Ted Potter Jr. speaks to the media after holding off a pack of higher-ranked pursuers to collect his second PGA Tour win. (photo by author) |
Opening with a 6-under 30 on MPCC’s back nine, Potter bid
fair to do the same on the front side, but after a bogey-bogey stumble at the
last two holes he had to settle for 9-under 62 and a share of the tournament lead going into Sunday’s final round.
Ted who?
They say that even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a
while. Sunday at Pebble Beach Potter, a one-time “Central Florida mini-tour
legend”, did just that. He has five Top 10 finishes in 84 PGA Tour starts,
including a win at the 2012 Greenbrier Classic. Take out that 2012 win and his
average PGA Tour paycheck is $22,000. For this win his paycheck is $1,332,000.
After a near record-breaking performance Saturday at MPCC, the 34-year-old from Ocala, Florida,
who last played in a final group on Sunday in 2011, in the Web.com Tour’s Soboba
Classic, came out swinging on Sunday morning with four birdies and a bogey in the first seven holes,
while co-leader Johnson stuttered his way through the same stretch at 1-under.
DJ made another bogey at the wicked-hard par-4 eighth hole after
his second shot found the bunker behind the green, dropping him to T-3 alongside
Troy Merritt, as Chez Reavie moved past him into solo second with birdies at 8
and 9.
Meanwhile, Ted Potter Jr. was waltzing through the latter
stages of the biggest finish of his pro-golf career like it was one of the
Central Florida mini-tour events he used to dominate. A nerveless par from a
scary spot above the hole on #11, the worst position on the slipperiest green on
the course, was typical of his play to that point.
With a pack that included Phil Mickelson, Chez Reavie, Kevin
Streelman, Dustin Johnson, Troy Merritt, and Jason Day in pursuit, Potter –
the “Ocala mini-tour legend” – coasted in while the #1 player in the world, a
former #1, and a host of much higher-ranked players tripped over themselves in
a vain attempt to chase down the 246th-ranked player in the world.
All efforts came to naught, however, as the field trailed
the mini-tour legend from Central Florida to the finish. Phil Mickelson’s 67 fell three shots short, as did Chez
Reavie’s 68.
Jason Day made a dramatic effort with driver off the deck
for his second shot at #18, only to see the ball ricochet off the seawall left of
the fairway, leaving him a third shot from the eponymous pebble beach behind
the scoreboard. He knocked that one over the green into the front bunker,
chipped out and made a 17-foot putt for what was probably the least likely par in the history of the 18th hole at Pebble Beach. Day closed
with 70 to join Mickelson, Reavie, and Johnson in a tie for second place.
Potter played the final hole with two fairway woods, and a
9-iron to 14 feet, lagging to two inches from there and tapping in for a 69 on
the day, 17-under for the tournament, and a three-stroke win.
The win jumps Potter from 117th to 15th in the FedEx Cup rankings, and earns him a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and an invitation to the Masters.
“(My goals for the year) will definitely have to change
now,” Potter said in a post-round interview. “I’m just happy to be where I am
right now.”
NorCal player results
Among players with a Northern California association,
Fresno’s Kevin Chappell and former Stanford Men’s Golf star Patrick Rodgers brought
home the best result, T-8. Chappell posted a 5-under 67, with three birdies in
his first nine, and two bogeys bookending four birdies in his final nine, for his best finish in this event since 2009, when he was T-6;
Rodgers closed with a 1-over 73.
Walnut Creek’s Brandon Haskins made the biggest
move of the day, closing with a 6-under 66 that rocketed him 45 spots up the leaderboard
to finish T-15.
James Hahn of Alameda fired a 4-under 68 to close out the
tournament at 7-under, T-26 – a 33-spot move up the leaderboard. Sacramento’s
Nick Watney carded an even-par 72 to close at 4-under for a T-47 finish.
Bryson DeChambeau struggled to a 3-over 75 for a final score
of 3-under and a T-55 finish. Stockton’s Ricky Barnes finished T-62, at 2-under.
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