PSU grad Howe bests Fuhrer field
played on the golf team.
But he never blinked under the glare of all those dollar signs.
Especially when the landscape began to change in a three-hole stretch of the Field Club when Howe made birdies at No. 11 and 13 and a solid two-putt par at the 469yard, par-4 12th.
“The turning point was the birdie at 11,” Howe said. “That gave me the momentum. That three-hole stretch kind of spurred me on.”
The 3-foot birdie at the 332-yard 13th gave him a five-shot lead on his playing partner, Dan Obremski Jr., the third-round leader who began frittering away strokes with four bogeys in a five-hole stretch, beginning at No. 7.
Obremski shot a finalround 76 and finished third at 1-over 281, five shots back. Matt Schall shot 69, his third sub-par round in a row, and finished second at par-280. He won $20,000.
Obremski, 30, a mini-tour player and a Penn-Trafford High School graduate, suffered through a balky driver that caused him to hit only two fairways in the final round— and one of those was withan iron at the par-4 17th.
Curiously, Obremski hit only 13 fairways in the first three rounds when he was leading after 54 holes at 5-under 205. But his misses caught up with him on the final day, and his round of six bogeys and no birdies cost him in more ways than one. Still, he won $12,000, the largest paycheck of his professional career.
Obremski was so wild off the tee his tee shot at the 442yard eighth hole ended up in the trees between the ninth and10th fairways.
“You can’t shoot a score around even par when you’re missing a ton of fairways in a row and not making birdies,” Obremski said. “It’s totally frustrating, having no confidence off the tee. I was trying to get it out of my head.”
Howe’s only frustration came six days earlier when he was hoping to get into the U.S. Open after making it as the first alternate from the sectional qualifying site in Rockville, Md.
He showed up at 6 a.m. June 15 at Erin Hills and waited until 3 p.m. to see if one of the 156 players in the field had to withdraw at the last minute. If someone did, Howe would get into the U.S. Open. And he was ready.
He played nine holes during a practice round Tuesday and another 18 Wednesday, playing nine holes with Garcia and catching up to Spieth and being invited to play the final few holes with the twotimemajor champion.
But nobody backed out. Masters champ Danny Willett withdrew after the first round after shooting 81, but by then it didn’t matter. Howe turned around and went home.
“That’s OK,” Howe said. “He’s the Masters champ. You can’t complain about that.”
The $40,000 first prize was a better consolation.