AmateurGolf.com's Jack Persons wins Bay Regional
Jack Persons
BERKELEY, Calif. (August 3, 2014) -- AmateurGolf.com staff writer Jack Persons shot a four-under 66 on Sunday to earn the Bay Regional title.
Playing in foggy and wet conditions at Tilden Park, Persons played solid all day, making only one bogey against five birdies.
He converted a 10-footer for birdie at the par-3 fourth hole, but quickly gave it back on the fifth after his par putt skimmed the edge of the hole.
There were no hiccups the rest of the way, as he managed to get up and down on the long par-3 seventh after short-siding himself, then birdied the eighth and ninth to turn at two-under 33.
Patrick Soli and Travis Rowney gave chase on the back nine, as Rowney birdied 11 and 12, two of the toughest holes on the course, to pull to three-under for the day, while Soli did the same by making three in a row on 12, 13, and 14.
Persons fired back with birdies on 13 and 14, notably getting a good kick off a greenside bunker to set up a six-footer for birdie, which he sank to regain the lead at four-under for the day.
While the trio played well on the last four holes, the birdie putts stopped dropping, and the one-stroke lead Persons had taken turned out to be good enough. A final round four-under 66 and even-par 140 total was one better than Soli and Rowney, and just enough for the title.
“It was just really fun that we were all playing well at the same time,” Rowney said in an interview with the Gackle Report. “We’re competitors on the course, but we’re also friends. We pull for each other because we appreciate that we’re all great competitors.”