Englishman wins soggy ATB Classic
Englishman dreamed rains would render this into 54-hole tournament
The stage was set for a Sunday shootout. Instead, it was a washout. With Nose Creek swollen to several times its usual size and some walking bridges under water after Saturday’s late-night downpour, the final round of the ATB Financial Classic was scrubbed due to unplayable conditions on the Talons Course at Country Hills.
It was bad news for everybody except England’s Charlie Bull, the third-round leader who claimed his first Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour title — and the $31,500 payday that comes with it — in the weathershortened showdown.
“I’m not going to lie — I did have a dream last night that it turned into a 54-hole event,” Bull said after Sunday’s trophy presentation. “My roommate (Seath Lauer) was teeing off early this morning and he walked in at, like, 6:30 a.m. and got back into bed. At that point, I knew it must be pretty bad, knowing how well this course drains. For them to have delayed it, I knew it would have to be bad.” It was bad. The rising stars on the Mackenzie Tour raved all week about the conditions at Country Hills — Austin Connelly, one of four guys who settled for a tie for second, called the dancefloors “probably the purest greens that we’ve played all year” — but 50 mm of rain flooded creek crossings and left several holes unplayable.
Sunday’s final round was originally delayed, then officially cancelled at noon.
The 24-year-old Bull, who had sizzled to a three-day total of 16-under 200 and slept on a twostroke lead, headed to the course to collect his winnings. Everybody else headed home. It’s a double whammy for the staff at Country Hills, who first hosted the ATB Financial Classic in June 2013, with the historic floods across Calgary forcing the postponement of that tournament until later the same summer.
“It’s really disappointing,” said Brett Burgeson, the head professional at the 36-hole private hangout. “You start with our grounds crew and all the work they do — they’re out there at night cutting, they’re out there in the morning cutting. Getting our golf course ready for this tournament took two months, not two days. So it’s disappointing for them. I know they’re really proud of what they did and from all the feedback from the players, they loved it.
“And for the volunteers, and lots of our members are volunteering, it’s disappointing. More than anything, I wanted to see it finish for them, because they would have seen a great Sunday.
“I was really looking forward to watching those guys play today. So I don’t think anybody is happy about it, except maybe the one guy walking away with the winner’s cheque.” Bull was, indeed, all smiles. He opened with a 6-under 66 in his first spin of the Talons track, followed up with a 69 in Friday’s second round and surged to the top of the leaderboard with Saturday’s rip of 7-under 65.
“It’s obviously not the way you want to win your first tournament, but I’m here now and it’s so exciting,” Bull said. “So am I upset that we didn’t play? Not really. Would it have been nice to play? Yes. Would it have been nice to play and win? Absolutely. That would have been the best way to finish it. But the way I finished yesterday, I’m just as proud of that as if I did that on Sunday.
“It doesn’t tarnish anything, in my mind.”
AROUND THE GREENS
The foul weather robbed Austin Connelly of a shot at his first professional victory, but he wasn’t complaining after collecting his $2,500 bonus as the top Canadian on the scoreboard at Country Hills.
The 19-year-old — a dual citizen who is based in Dallas but who represented Canada at the 2015 Pan Am Games — is headed directly from Calgary to Illinois to tee it up at the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic.
“I’ve never gone to a PGA Tour event this prepared. Not even close,” Connelly said after his tie for second in Calgary.
“I feel very good with where I am mentally and physically, with my swing and putting stroke and everything. I’m really looking forward to this next week. I feel like I could really do some damage out there.”