Potter bests starry Pebble Beach field
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — For one day at Pebble Beach, Ted Potter Jr. was better than the best in the world.
Look back even further, and his threeshot victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-am is even more remarkable.
He played so many mini-tour events that he lost track of how many he won, some of them only two-day tournaments that paid enough for a week’s worth of food and gas. His biggest paycheck was $33,000.
More recently, Potter was out of golf for two years recovering from a broken ankle that required two surgeries. Nothing guaranteed he would make it back.
Potter started the final round Sunday tied with Dustin Johnson, the world’s No. 1 player for the past year. Throughout the day, Phil Mickelson and Jason Day made run sat the 34-year-old Floridian who had 46 missed cuts and only four top-10s in 83 PGA Tour starts. Potter beat them all.
He was the one chatting with Clint Eastwood and posing with the crystal trophy that comes with a $1,332,000 check and a return to the Masters.
“I’m so happy right now to get it done today, especially against the world No. 1, playing with him today,” Potter said. “The win here at Pebble is just unbelievable.”
Just don’t call it a fluke.
Potter closed with a 3-under-par 69 for a 17-under 270 total and didn’t drop a shot after a three-putt bogey on the opening hole. Making it tougher was playing in a threesome behind a foursome in the proam format, having too much time to think about the stage and the contenders.
At Boca Raton, Fla., Mark Calcavecchia took advantage of Bernhard Langer’s messy finish to cap a wire-to-wire win in the Boca Raton Championship.
Calcavecchia, 57, had a 20foot bogey save on the par-3 16th and parred the final two holes for a 2-under 70 and a 16-under 200 total for a twostroke victory over Langer, 60, on The Old Course at Broken Sound.
Langer bogeyed the final two holes for a 70.
At Perth, Australia, Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat won the World Super 6 Perth title, beating Australian James Nitties 2 and 1 in the match play final.
Aphibarnrat worked through three rounds of stroke play over the first three days and a series of six-hole knockout matches Sunday to reach the final.
Champions: European PGA: