POPLAR
BLUFF, MO. — During the final stoppage in play because of bad weather Sunday in
the 68th Tom Hoover Ozark Invitational, Brian Haskell heard that first-round
leader Buddy Allen was at 5-under with three holes to play.
Haskell himself was 5-under getting
ready to play the par-5 ninth at Westwood Hills Country Club, the final hole of
the shortened event.
“Basically it ended up being a
9-hole shootout because of the weather,” said Haskell after his dramatic
come-from-behind win.
“I just tried to make as many
birdies as I could and played pretty well both days.”
Haskell’s birdie on 9 gave him the
clubhouse lead at 5-under 101 with two groups left on the course and another
storm looming in the distance.
Allen was still at 5-under for the
tournament when he teed off at 9, a hole he had birdied the day before during a
4-under 67 first round. His second shot from the
fairway found sand on the right side, 30 yards from the green, but he managed
to get within striking distance for a birdie putt.
Unaware of the situation, Allen said
later, his putt to force a playoff missed to the right by less than an
inch.
“Cool thing is I gave myself enough
chances, that was nice,” said Allen who shot 5-under
102. “I burned the edge. Got off to a good start.”
Allen, who also finished second by a
stroke in 2008, had gotten to 6-under with a birdie-par-birdie start Sunday
before the leading groups were interrupted for the first time by a
thunderstorm.
The tournament was reduced to 27
holes after play was stopped twice with the Senior Division on the course
during the morning. Steve Groom of Raytown won his second senior title in three
years with a 4-under 67 Saturday, beating Don Bliss and Ben Cantrell by 4
shots.
It was the second time in four years
all 36 holes couldn’t be played but only the fourth time in the tournament’s
long history. For the first nine years, starting in 1947, only 27 holes were
played.
“When I woke up this morning and saw
the weather forecast, plus it was raining, I was like ‘oh man, who knows what’s
going to happen,’” Allen said.
Wayne Fredrick and Scott Hovis each
finished at 3-under 104 while
Brumitt, Brian Craig and Tripp H’Doubler started the day a shot behind Allen and playing
in the final group. Haskell was 2 shots back but playing two groups ahead as
Fredrick, Hovis, Chris Dale and Carr Vernon also ended Saturday at 2-under.
Allen, from Pevely, opened with a
birdie putt that caught the left edge on No. 1, which ranked the
second-toughest hole on the front 9 Saturday. That gave him a 2-shot lead over
his playing partners.
Haskell, meanwhile, birdied three
straight holes starting at No. 2 to get to 5-under and catch Allen.
“To me, driving and wedge game is
the key on this course,” said Haskell who brought a new driver with him. “If
you can drive it and give yourself opportunities with wedges in there
consistently 10 to 12 feet, hopefully make your share of putts.”
He said his driver was “iffy” in a
first-round 69 but felt good on the range prior to starting Sunday.
Haskell missed a 15-foot eagle putt
on the par-5 second then sank a 10-footer for birdie on No. 3 before a 12-foot
birdie on his fourth hole. Another birdie putt lipped out on 5, he said, before
the first weather delay.
Haskell said he missed three birdie
putts, each between 8-14 feet, starting on No. 6, then
ended his round with an 8-foot birdie to take the lead with his final putt.
The
“I’ve been playing here eight years
and I still haven’t figured out how to read these greens,” Haskell said. “Twice
(Saturday) the guy I was playing with, we read one and we just laughed because
it goes the opposite way.”
Haskell got an invitation when he
played Ben Godwin in the 2006 Missouri Amateur championship match.
“I’ve asked Ben how he putts them
and he said you’ve just got to get use to them,” Haskell said. “I haven’t
gotten use to them yet.”
After rain most of the morning, the
sun came out briefly when the final group started their second hole.
Allen saved par on No. 2 after it
appeared his tee shot clipped a tree limb and ended up right of the fairway. He
drained a birdie putt on the par-3 third to regain the lead at 6-under.
Allen was about to hit his second
shot from the fourth fairway when play was stopped for 35 minutes. He saved par
with a chip from behind the green and a putt.
However, Allen’s tee shot on No. 5
found the trees to the left side and he was forced to punch out. His putt for
par was a tough left-turning bender that missed high but left an easy par putt.
Allen’s approach shot on 6 was long but his chip shot and putt helped save par
before another stoppage in play, this time for 30 minutes.
Allen missed a long birdie putt on 7
and another on 8, giving himself easy 2-putt pars before heading to the
536-yard, par-5 birdie factory known as the ninth hole. It ranked as the second
easiest hole in the first round, giving up 26 birdies and an eagle.
“I had no idea that someone else had
a 1-stroke lead,” Allen said. “I had no idea, I was
just playing the hole like I would have regardless.”
A trio of players got within a shot
of the lead with four holes left.
Hovis, the director of the Missouri
Golf Association, got to 4-under with birdies on Nos. 2 and 5 but he dropped a
shot with a bogey on 8 before ending with a par.
H’Doubler, a freshman on the
Craig, from
Brumitt might have shared the first-round
lead if his eagle putt on 18 didn’t lip out. He opened Sunday with consecutive
pars before missing another on the par-3 third. Following a birdie on 4, his
tee shot on the 330-yard sixth landed just short of the green but he 2-putted
for par with a chance to get within a shot of Allen.
“I knew I had to make birdies coming
in because I knew Buddy was playing good and I had heard Haskell was playing
good,” said Brumitt who finished in the top 10 for a
second straight year.
Vernon, the 2010 champion and last
year’s Missouri Player of the Year, started the day 2 shots off the lead but
his second shot clipped a tree and fell short of the first green before a bogey
putt lipped out. A birdie on the next hole got him to 1-under but he didn’t get
another until 9 after consecutive bogeys to finish at even par.
Fredrick got consecutive birdies
starting on No. 5 to get to 3-under and finished tied for third.
Dale carded consecutive bogeys to
start his round but ended up 1-under with a birdie on 9.
In all, 11 players were under par
Sunday, including Moloney, Niezing and Stalker who each finished at 2-under 105
tied for fifth. Griffin Locke, Ron Mangold and Brett
Pierce, playing his first Ozark, also finished at 1-under 106 tied for
ninth.
The tournament is sponsored by
Michelob Ultra.
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