Potter unlikely Pebble champ
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 three-shot victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is even more remarkable.
He played so many minitour 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 while recovering from a broken ankle that required two surgeries — one to insert 12 screws and two plates, another to remove all that hardware. There was no guarantee he’d 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, longtime stars Phil Mickelson and Jason Day made a run at the 34-yearold Floridian who had 46 missed cuts and only four top 10s in his previous 83 starts on the PGA Tour. 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.
Potter closed with a 3under-par 69 and didn’t drop a shot after a threeputt bogey on the first hole.
Calcavecchia best at Boca.
BOCA R ATON, FLA . » Mark Calcavecchia took advantage of Bernhard Langer’s messy finish to complete a wire-to-wire victory in the Boca Raton Championship.
Calcavecchia had a 20foot 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.
Calcavecchia finished at 16-under 200 overall. World Super 6 thriller. PERTH, AUSTRALIA»Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand won the World Super 6 Perth with a 2-and-1 victory over James Nitties in the six-hole final.
Kiradech had to win five six-hole matches for his first European Tour title since the Saltire Paul Lawrie Match Play in 2015. Call it a Taylor-made title. Ben Taylor shot his second straight 3-under 68 for a sixstroke victory in the Club Colombia Championship.
The 25-year-old Englishman finished 15-under 269.