Christensen wins Spanish Oaks
Evidently, not having to worry any more about the administrative side of the event is a load lifted off his golf game. Playing in the Spanish Oaks Open for the first time since his retirement last year, Christensen will finally have his name inscribed on the championship trophy. His 36-hole score of 12-under par also gave him a first-place check of $1,300 to cash.
"This is real bonus for me because I've always wanted to win this tournament," Christensen said after overcoming a seven-shot deficit with seven holes to play to win by one. "And to come back the way I did is even another bonus."
After nine holes Sunday, first-round leader Chris Moody was 5-under for the day and running away from the field — leading Christensen, who was even-par on the day by seven shots.
"Honestly, I thought it was basically over," Christensen admitted.
But things turned around drastically on the par-3 12th. Moody hit what appeared to be a great shot that landed in front of the pin, but the ball rolled a few feet past the hole, caught a severe slope and rolled all the way into a hazard. Meanwhile, Christensen knocked a wedge 2-feet from the cup. Moody made double bogey and Christensen birdied for a three-shot swing.
It appeared Moody was going to recover, however, when he made a great par on No. 14 and rolled in a 10-foot birdie on No. 15 to push his lead back to two. But Christensen, after narrowly missing a birdie putt on No. 16, rolled in an 8-foot birdie on No. 17 to get back to within a stroke.
But the real heroics came on the tight par-5 18th. Moody hit a good drive, but pushed his second shot right of the green — leaving him a near impossible up and down for birdie. All Christensen, who blistered a drive down the pipe, thought he had to do was hit the green and two putt for a tie. But he wanted more. His four-iron second shot to the far back pin placement landed perfectly to the right of the green and kicked down to 6-feet from the cup. After Moody left his long birdie putt short, Christensen won the tournament when he curled in the short eagle putt on the back side of the cup.
"This game is so funny because it can turn so fast. And today, it turned really fast," Christensen said.
For his second-place professional finish Moody earned $1,000.
"I hit the ball good today and just had a few bad breaks. And Roy played great. I can't really be mad about that," Moody said.
Tying Moody for second was Brigham Young sophomore Nick Killpack with rounds of 69-64. Salt Lake pro Henry White closed strong Sunday with an 8-under 64, good enough to take home the third-place pro check of $675.
E-mail: jimr@desnews.com
Recent comments
How about the guy with a 9 handicap who shot 64 in the tournament...
Sandbagger | May 5, 2008 at 3:15 p.m.
