Another win for Smyth on Champions Tour
Gusty winds got the best of every player at the Legends of Golf except Irishman Des Smyth.
Smyth shot a one-under-par 71 – Sunday’s only sub-par round – to finish at eight-under 208 for a two-shot victory.
On a sunny day, winds gusted up to 30 miles per hour, making for tough going on the 6,997-yard, par-72 Savannah Harbor Golf Resort course. Smyth was the only of 52 players to break par.
It was an adventurous day for Smyth with five birdies and four bogeys, including one on the par-four 18th. But he had built enough of a cushion to post his second victory of the season.
“I am not surprised I was the only one under par,” Smyth said.
“The course played much like the (British) Open Championship. It was like a links course, you really had to manoeuvre it around.”
Tom Jenkins shot a one-over 73 and finished second at six-under 210. He had two birdies and three bogeys.
“We all knew it was going to be a tough day. You just try to keep your composure and maintain your balance,” Jenkins said.
“It was a survival thing out there.”
Smyth survived the elements for his second career Champions Tour victory with back-to-back birdies at numbers 14 and 15 that clinched the tournament.
He drove the green on the par-four 14th and two-putted from 40 feet for birdie. On 15, he fired a five-iron to two feet and converted for another birdie.
“I still can’t believe I won this tournament,” Smyth said.
“(Holes) 14 through 17 is what won me the tournament. I played them really good.”
In search of his first title of the season, Wayne Levi entered the final round with a one-shot lead but carded a four-over 76 and finished tied for third with Tom Purtzer at 211. Purtzer entered Sunday one shot off the lead but signed for a 75.
Smyth, who earned US$360,000 (€276,611) for the victory, won the SBC Classic in March for his first Champions Tour victory. Now he has earned the title at one of the most prestigious events on the senior circuit.
The Legends of Golf is the second-oldest event on the tour behind the Senior PGA Championship.
Along with the wind, temperatures were unseasonably cool making things especially tough.
The field scoring average for the final round was 75.89, the highest on the tour since the third round of last year’s Senior British Open (76.69).
“I wouldn’t play in this wind by choice but I suppose I had some advantage,” Smyth said.
Collated final round scores and totals in the US Champions Tour, Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, Westin Savannah Harbor Resort and Spa Savannah, Georgia, United States (USA unless stated, par 72):
208 Des Smyth (Irl) 66 71 71
210 Tom Jenkins 70 67 73
211 Tom Purtzer 65 71 75, Wayne Levi 67 68 76
212 Jim Thorpe 69 70 73
213 Andy Bean 67 74 72, Mark McNulty (Zim) 70 68 75, D A Weibring 69 71 73
214 Morris Hatalsky 67 74 73, David Eger 72 70 72, Craig Stadler 68 71 75, Bob Gilder 71 68 75, Jay Haas 67 73 74
215 Mark James (Eng) 71 70 74, Leonard Thompson 69 69 77, Gil Morgan 68 71 76, Ben Crenshaw 69 73 73
216 Bruce Summerhays 70 72 74, Bruce Fleisher 70 70 76, Dana Quigley 69 70 77, Mark Johnson 69 75 72, Gary Koch 68 73 75
217 J.C Snead 69 70 78, Allen Doyle 70 73 74, Tom Kite 69 74 74, Don Pooley 72 71 74
218 Curtis Strange 72 69 77
219 Jim Dent 68 72 79, Bobby Wadkins 71 71 77, Dave Eichelberger 72 71 76
220 John Jacobs (Eng) 74 72 74, Dave Stockton 73 72 75
221 Mark McCumber 70 73 78, Jerry Pate 72 72 77, Bob Murphy 73 72 76
222 Hale Irwin 71 76 75
223 Vicente Fernandez (Arg) 72 75 76, Pete Oakley 73 70 80
224 Larry Nelson 68 75 81, Jay Sigel 76 71 77
225 Jim Albus 73 73 79, Ed Fiori 71 77 77, Fuzzy Zoeller 71 73 81
226 Jim Colbert 73 76 77, John Mahaffey 72 78 76
227 Hubert Green 71 79 77, Doug Tewell 75 74 78
229 Charles Coody 69 80 80, Gary Player (Rsa) 75 80 74, Tom Wargo 75 76 78, Dale Douglass 73 77 79
231 Bob Eastwood 73 77 81
