Hugo Townsend (Idaho Golf Association photo)

The back nine at Elkhorn Golf Club might have been designed with Hugo Townsend in mind, or at least it seems like it. Townsend played the back nine at Elkhorn in a cumulative 11 strokes under par, shooting 33-31-33 throughout the week.

Starting the day a stroke behind the leaders, Townsend seemed to have stalled on the front nine, making one birdie and eight pars. Things started moving very quickly though on the back nine.

A bogey on 11 set him back for a moment, but a birdie on 13 put him just 2 shots back of Colt Sherrell.

Then it happened.

Townsend stuffed his approach on 15 and drained the putt, while Sherrell lipped out his par putt. A two shot swing.

Townsend had the honor on the 16th hole, a hole that had been shortened and was certainly reachable. Instead of giving it a go he elected to lay up just short. Then he played maybe the shot of the tournament. A crafty little bump and run into the hill in front of the green, letting it cozy to about three feet which he promptly buried for another birdie.

A routine par on 17, and a bogey for Sherrell gave Townsend a two shot lead headed to the 18th, and he never looked back. A very casual birdie on 18 brought him to -10 (206) for the tournament, and a comfortable win.

After losing his spring college season to the pandemic, Townsend sounded more relieved than excited after the round. “It just feels really good to play in a tournament. I’ve been working really hard in the gym and playing a lot with my teammates since I can’t go home (to Sweden) this summer. It just feels really good to have all the hard work pay off.”

At the end of the day, there’s certainly no better pay off than having a trophy waiting.