U.S. BANK CHAMPIONSHIP
Bo Van Pelt came from behind on Sunday to win the U.S.
Bank Championship in Milwaukee in a sudden death playoff over John Mallinger.
Both players finished at 13-under-par 267 before Van Pelt won the tournament
with a birdie on the second playoff hole.
It was the first PGA Tour victory for Van Pelt, a
resident of Tulsa, Okla., and it came in his 229th career start on the PGA
Tour.
Van Pelt shot 64 on Sunday, one of several scores
recorded in the mid-60s in the final-round shootout. Mallinger closed with a 65
to also reach 13 under par, but he eventually fell short in his quest for his
first PGA Tour title.
Van Pelt, 34, birdied the par-5 18th hole at Brown Deer
Park three times on Sunday, once in regulation and twice in the playoff.
Mallinger birdied it twice, but could do no better than par the third time.
Overall, Van Pelt shot 67-68-68-64--267, and afterward he
said he just recently went back a standard-length putter after using a belly
putter all year.
"I hit the ball fantastic starting out," Van Pelt said of
the final round. "I had a lot of really good looks, and finally I made a birdie
there on the par-5 (sixth hole). Then another one on eight, hit one close, and
just kind of got going."
Then he really played well after the turn, with birdies
on Nos. 13, 14, 15 and 18, to shoot a back-nine 32.
"I think that a couple of (past) times when I had been in
contention, I played well and had not got it done," Van Pelt said.
This time he did, and in the process Van Pelt won
$720,000 and 250 FedEx Cup points.
Mallinger, who lives in Long Beach, Calif., was tied for
the lead at 13 under, but he made a key mistake on the par-4 17th, when he dumped
his approach into a bunker in front of the green. He hit it over the green with
his bunker shot, then got up and down for bogey to fall back to 12 under. He
dropped a short birdie putt on the 18th to tie Van Pelt once more.
"It's a hole you should birdie every time," Mallinger said
of the 557-yard 18th.
Jerry Kelly of Madison gave the gallery something to
cheer about as he rallied to take a share of the lead after rolling in a birdie
putt on the par-3 11th hole. That brought Kelly to 11 under par, but he
followed it with six straight pars before birdieing the 18th hole to finish in
third place. For the week, Kelly shot 69-68-66-65--268, and in the process
extended his tournament record with his 14th consecutive round in the 60s.
Tim Petrovic and Spencer Levin both shot 63 on Sunday and
shot up the leaderboard. But third-round leader Frank Lickliter II went in the
opposite direction with a 73, which dropped him back to a tie for 18th place.
As usual, there were numerous players in the field with
Wisconsin ties. In addition to Kelly, state players in the mix on Sunday
included Fox Point native Skip Kendall, who shot 66-70-70-66--272 and tied for
18th, and Pewaukee native Mark Wilson, who shot 68-70-69-67--274 and tied for
31st. Appleton native Ryan Helminen shot 73-68-73--214 to make the cut, but he
was among eight players who did not play the final round on Sunday.
