Pendrith miss on 10-foot birdie putt hands playoff win to Ryder
Taylor Pendrith likely didn’t sleep very well Sunday night after the slightest of gaffes cost him about $13,000.
Pendrith, from Richmond Hill, Ont., was bogey-free though 18 regulation holes Sunday at the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada National Capital Open to Support Our Troops at the Hylands Golf Club.
Then he missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole, opening the door for Sam Ryder of Winter Park, Fla., to collect his first tour win.
“It’s huge. I already had some really solid finishes this year and I think this solidifies myself as one of the contenders out here,” Ryder said. “Until you really do it, you don’t know for sure. You assume your game’s good enough, and you play well and you get yourself in contention, but until you actually finish it off and close the deal out you don’t really know.
“It’s nice to get a little monkey off my back.”
Both players were at 20-under par when they each made par on the 18th hole to set up the playoff.
Ryder over shot the green on his second shot and Pendrith put his second shot to within 10 feet of the hole. He missed the birdie putt and then lipped out on a two-foot par putt, settling for a bogey five.
Ryder chipped close to the hole, then made his par putt for the win and a $31,500 payday. Pendrith collected $18,900 for his second-place finish.
“I’m at a little bit of a loss for words right now, but it feels really good,” said Ryder, who moved into second spot on the Order of Merit with winnings of more than $55,000 on the Mackenzie Tour so far this season. The top five on the Order of Merit earn web.com tour status for next season.
“I wanted to give that chip a run because I was kind of expecting him to make that birdie putt. It was hard to watch the first birdie putt, and I wasn’t expecting him to miss that (par putt). I didn’t really want it to end like that but I’ll take it.”
Pendrith made a long birdie putt on 17 to level the match going to 18. He had made double bogey on 18 in Saturday’s third round.
“I thought I made the birdie putt and then I don’t know what happened. I just pushed it and missed. It was unfortunate the first bogey of the day had to come in a playoff but that’s the way it goes,” said Pendrith, who could have moved into second on the Order of Merit with a win but now sits seventh.
“I had a lot of chances out there and Sam played really well, obviously. There are a lot of positives, though. I shot 20-under, made 25 birdies and two eagles, so obviously that’s good. It gives me a lot of confidence but it’s just unfortunate.”
Both players came into Sunday tied at 15-under and both shot 5-under 66 on the day through 18. They both shot 69 in the opening round while Ryder shot 65 and 64 in the two middle rounds while Pendrith replied with a 64 Friday and a 65 Saturday.
“You want it to be easy. It never is easy, but you couldn’t really draw it up better the way we went back and forth all day. No bogeys through 18 regulation holes and just a lot of good golf from both of us. There was a lot of pressure and it was a lot of fun,” Ryder said.
Wade Binfield of Charlottesville, Va., had Sunday’s low round of 6-under 65, and that lifted him into a four-way tie for fifth at 15-under. Clayton Rask of Elk River, Minn., was tied with Ryder and Pendrith at 19-under at one point, but settled for a 4-under 68 for the day and 18-under for the tournament to finish third.
Ross Beal of Canton, Ohio, finished fourth at 17-under after a 68.
Next up on the Mackenzie Tour is the Great Waterway Classic starting Thursday at Kingston’s Loyalist Golf and Country Club.