Photo credit: taiwannews.com.tw
By Jeremy Harness
NAPA, Calif. – This week, Cameron Champ wore black shoes that had “Papa Champ” written in white lettering and also had it etched on his wedges.
With his grandfather in hospice battling stomach cancer and his father behind the 18th hole, the Sacramento native kept his focus and earned his second-career PGA Tour win at the Safeway Open, this one certainly the more emotional of the two.
He held the lead for most of the day but had to fight off a threat from Canadian Adam Hadwin, who had rallied from five shots down at one point on Sunday to tie him at the top, making a birdie directly in front of him at the 18th to do so.
“Probably with what’s going on, I don’t know if it’s meant to be or what, but just to play the way I did – basically, this is my home event – to have so many family and friends here, it’s just been awesome,” Champ said.
Champ was a bit shaky off the tee – he did not hit his first fairway until the 12th hole – but his short game and putting kept him afloat long enough to win the tournament.
He pulled his drive left at the first hole – dangerously close to a hazard – but hit a brilliant wedge shot to about seven feet before making the putt for birdie. The wedge and putter came in handy again on the next hole, the par-3 second, after his tee shot came up woefully short and rolled down the hill.
He pitched it to about nine feet and made the putt to save par. The ball striking continued to be a struggle for the next two holes, but he was able to get it up and down to keep the lead intact.
He again pulled his drive left at the par-5 fifth, but this time he was in a tree line, meaning that he had to negotiate the trees to get to the green. He then took a mid-iron around the trees – flirting with out-of-bounds on the left – and landed it in the middle of the green from 201 yards away. He then two-putted for birdie to increase his lead to four.
He dropped a shot at the par-4 eighth but got it right back by getting up and down for a birdie at the ninth.
He was in serious danger of dropping another shot at the par-3 11th, after he short-sided himself and stubbed his first chip attempt. However, he rallied and chipped his third shot in to save par.
“I got some key up-and-downs,” Champ said. “The chip-in on 11 was huge and the up-and-down on 15 just kind of kept my round going.”
Hadwin started the round three shots behind Champ, but he caught fire after a one-over front nine, as he recorded five birdies against only one bogey, including birdies on each of the last three holes, which momentarily left him tied for the lead with Champ.
Ten minutes later, Champ rolled in a four-footer to win it.
“At least I made him think about it a little bit, didn’t I?” Hadwin asked. “I wasn’t sure where I stood. I walked off, I saw his name at 17 there, 17-under when I walked off the 15th green. I knew I had to do something special. I put a little pressure on him and made him make birdie for it.” Marc Leishman made a big charge on Sunday, shooting a seven-under round of 65 to launch himself into second place, 11 groups ahead of Champ. He made four birdies on the front nine against only one bogey, and he picked up four more shots on a bogey-free back nine and finished his round nicely by rolling in a 23-footer for birdie at the par-5 18th.
“(It was) nice to finish off on 18 like that,” Leishman said. “It probably won’t be enough, but hopefully it will make (Champ) think about it a little bit.
“When you can see the ball go in a little bit, it just puts a little bounce in your step. I feel like it goes through your whole game. I feel like if you’re not putting great, that can also go through your whole game, so it’s nice to take advantage of it when they’re going in.” Bryson DeChambeau shot out of the gate on Sunday, pouring in three birdies in the first five holes – including rolling in a 25-footer for birdie at the par-4 third – to get himself into a four-way tie for second before the last two groups teed off.
DeChambeau, a native a Clovis, just outside of Fresno, held the lead after Friday’s second round, but thanks in large part to a damaging double bogey on the back nine, he sputtered to a four-over 76 on Saturday before closing the gap considerably on Sunday.
He wasn’t the only one making noise in the final round. Roger Sloan, who began Sunday six shots back, birdied twice in his first four holes and then chipped in for an eagle at the par-5 fifth to get himself to two shots back and into second place all by himself.
However, both guys soon fizzled and could not make up any more ground. DeChambeau played the back nine at one-over with four bogeys and three birdies and finished with a two-under 70.
After the eagle, Sloan’s momentum hit the skids starting at the seventh, as he sandwiched a birdie with two bogeys. He was also one-over on the back after three bogeys and two birdies and also shot a 70. Both men finished tied for 13th.
