Golf NewsThe scorecard will merely record that Des Smyth finally made the Inverness Club his equal, posting a level-par score of 71 in the final round of the 2003 US Senior Open, writes George Kimball.
The round left Smyth at 292, eight-over par for the Championship and well adrift of the leader on the course, Bruce Lietzke, but the fact that he cured his putting woes and covered the final nine holes in a blistering 32 will likely send him home in good cheer.
"I finally got hold of it down the back nine," said Smyth. "I played well, though the front side killed me all week. On three occasions this week I was four over after seven holes." Three holes into his final round, Smyth took a double-bogey when he hit his tee shot into the pond which runs the length of the 194-yard short third.
Smyth said he "didn't play that badly", for the rest of the way around the front, but "the putting just got me a bit", as he three-putted both the fifth and seventh holes to fall to 12-over for the tournament.
"Then I got going. I made a big putt on 11, from about 25 feet, and on 13 I hit a great drive and then a six-iron to about 20 feet, and holed it."
Yesterday's eagle on the 13th made Smyth an aggregate score of five-under for the week on the 511-yard par-five.
On the final hole, Smyth's approach shot was as good as could be assayed against a diabolical pin position tucked in the back right corner, but his ball spun away and slowly trickled down and off the left side of the green.
Des was left with a 50-footer from the fringe, but on the other hand it was straight uphill, and with his broom-handle putter he stroked it into the hole for his most unlikely birdie of the day. It was in fact just the fourth birdie made on the hole yesterday.
CHALLENGE TOUR: Michael Jonzon of Sweden equalled the lowest winning score in Challenge Tour history as he stormed to victory in the Galeria Kaufhof Pokal Challenge at the Rittergut Birkhof golf club in Dusseldorf. The 31-year-old, whose two opening 63s set a new 36-hole total for the Tour, finished with rounds of 69, and 68 for a 25-under par total of 263 - matching the all-time low mark set by Australian John Senden when he won the Interlaken Open in 1998.
When the dust had settled on a day of remarkable scoring in Germany, Jonzon's winning margin was confirmed as two shots from the English pair of Philip Archer and David Ryles, who closed with respective 66s for 23 -nder par 265.
Ireland's Raymond Burns finished well down the field on 285. Burns opened with a 63 but then slumped to 73, 77 and 72.
