Potter outplays D.J. to win Pebble Beach
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — For one day at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Ted Potter Jr. was better than the best in the world.
Look back further, and his three-shot victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is even more remarkable.
He played so many mini-tour events, he lost track of how many he won. Some of them were two-day tournaments that paid enough to cover only 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 — one to insert 12 screws and two plates, another to remove all of that hardware. There was no guarantee he would make it back.
Potter started the final round Sunday tied with Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world for the past year. Throughout the day, Phil Mickelson and Jason Day each made a run at the 34-year-old Floridian who had 46 missed cuts and only four top-10 finishes in his previous 83 starts on the PGA Tour.
Potter beat them all. At the end, he was the one chatting with Clint Eastwood and posing with the crystal trophy that comes with a $1,332,000 check, a two-year tour exemption and invitations to the Masters and the PGA Championship.
“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 and didn’t drop a shot after a threeputt bogey on the opening hole. Making it tougher was playing in a threesome behind a foursome in the pro-am format, leaving him too much time to think about the stage, the contenders and the opportunity.
He never flinched. The key moment came behind the green on the par-3 seventh, the most picturesque at Pebble Beach. He and Johnson were side by side in light rough to a firm green that ran away from them. Johnson chipped nicely to four feet from the hole. Potter put a little more loft on his shot and holed it for a birdie and a two-shot lead.
No one got closer the rest of the way. He finished at 17-under 270 and won by three shots as Day (70), Johnson (72), Mickelson (67) and Chez Reavie (68) shared second.
Only after he tapped in for par on the final hole did he show how much it meant.
“It’s been a struggle,” he said, his voice choking with emotion. “You break your ankle and you don’t know what’s going to happen with your swing, with your career. It’s unbelievable right now. … This has been a blast this week.”
Chattanooga’s Stephan Jaeger (74) tied for 43rd at 5 under. Athens, Tenn., native Eric Axley (71) and Baylor School graduate Keith Mitchell (71) were among those who shared 47th at 4 under.
Wire-to-wire win
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Mark Calcavecchia took advantage of Bernhard Langer’s messy finish to complete a wire-to-wire victory in the PGA Tour Champions’ Boca Raton Championship.
Calcavecchia had a 20-foot bogey save on the par-3 16th and parred the final two holes for a 2-under 70 and a two-stroke victory over Langer on The Old Course at Broken Sound. It was the 5o-and-older tour’s first fullfield event of the year.
Langer also closed with a 70. Tied for the lead after Calcavecchia’s bogey on 16, Langer fell back on the par-4 17th when he left a four-foot par putt to the right. The German star also bogeyed the par-5 18th, driving to the right into pine straw and wood chips, then finding two bunkers before reaching the green.
Calcavecchia, 57, finished at 16-under 200 as he won for the fourth time on the senior circuit, though this is his first victory since 2015.
Fred Funk was third at 13 under after a 67, while David Toms had a 67 to reach 12 under.
Super 6 settled
PERTH, Australia — Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat won the World Super 6 by beating Australia’s James Nitties 2 and 1 in the match-play final.
Aphibarnrat worked his way through three rounds of stroke play over the first three days and a series of six-hole knockout matches Sunday to reach the final. The field was reduced to the top 65 players after 36 holes and 24 players after 54 holes.
Aphibarnrat beat Ben Eccles 1 up and Yusaku Miyazato to reach the quarterfinals, where he defeated Sean Crocker 1 up. He then reached the final with a semifinal win over Lucas Herbert thanks to a 90-meter extra shootout hole.
Nitties beat compatriot Nick Cullen at a shootout hole before knocking out Dimitrios Papadatos and Callan O’Reilly 1 up and then defeating England’s Sam Horsfield 2 and 1 in the semifinals.
Horsfield beat Herbert 3 and 1 in the third-place match.