The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Long wins Desert Classic to collect first PGA title
LA QUINTA, Calif. — Adam Long made a 14-foot birdie putt on the final hole Sunday to win the Desert Classic for his first PGA Tour title.
Making his sixth career start on the tour, Long closed with a 7-under 65 on the Stadium Course at PGA West to beat playing partners Phil Mickelson and Adam Hadwin by a stroke.
“I got a pretty good read off Phil’s putt,” Long said. “It was one of those putts that you just stand over you just know you’re going to make. And you can’t control that, but when you have that feeling it’s a good one. I’m in pretty disbelief right now. I don’t really know what happened.”
Mickelson, the leader after each of the first three rounds, fought putting problems in a 69. His 40foot birdie try on 18 curled left at the end.
“I had a terrible putting day — one of the worst I can recall in a while,” Mickelson said. “Started right on the first hole with a little 4-footer uphill and three-putting that green. And I missed a bunch of short ones on the front and some birdie opportunities, but it felt awful with the putter. I hit a lot of good shots today, but just couldn’t get the ball to go in the hole.”
Long set up with the winning putt with a 6-iron shot from 175 yards with the ball below his feet in dormant grass on a mound to the right of the fairway. The 31-year-old former Duke player earned his PGA Tour card with a 13th-place finish last year on the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list.
“In some ways it’s been a little bit of a roller-coaster, but it’s been a steady improvement throughout my career,” Long said. “I’ve played in pretty much most tours around the world that there are and just kind of steadily progressed. It kind of can seem like it came out of nowhere, but my game’s been trending in the right direction for really the last two years now.”
Hadwin shot 67, losing a three-stroke lead on the back nine.
“It’s golf,” Hadwin said. “I made a bunch of putts all week and then honestly I was kind of battling it a little bit swing-wise, didn’t quite have it like I did the first three days. … It just kind of flat-lined on me there in the last few.”
The Canadian had his fourth straight top-six finish in the event. He was second in 2017 after a thirdround 59 at La Quinta Country Club and tied for third last year.
Long finished at 26under 262, chipping in twice on the back nine to remain in contention.