News

Wilcox Shoots 59; Alker Wins Utah’s Web.com Title in Playoff

By Laury Livsey, PGATOUR.COM staff
SANDY, Utah-It came down to a New Zealander vs. an Australian in a playoff to decide the 15th annual Utah Championship. In the first extra session in tournament history, Steven Alker, from Hamilton, New Zealand, made a par in the playoff (on the 18th hole) to defeat Australia’s Ashley Hall. Hall hit his tee shot on the par-3 18th hole into the water and could only make bogey, but the big story of the day was the final round 59 shot by Will Willcox. When the day began, Wilcox was tied for 38th, 10 shots behind 54-hole leader Chad Collins. Wilcox went out and shot the Tour’s fourth 59 in history, making a six-foot birdie putt to secure his place in the record book. Wilcox finished at 21-under, a stroke out of the Alker-Hall playoff.”With the conditions and the left pins, I was able to make some putts,” said Wilcox, a Birmingham, Ala., native. “It’s huge, obviously. It’s something every golfer dreams of, and on a par 71, it seems a little more attainable.” The other 59s in Tour history belong to Notah Begay III, Doug Dunakey and Jason Gore.In the end, the day belonged to Alker, who played his final 51 holes bogey-free-including the playoff. Alker moved from 149th on the money list to 20th with his $112,500 payday. For Hall, more it was more disappointment, although he stayed positive as he moved inside the top 25 on the earnings chart (21st).The victory was Alker’s first Web.com Tour title since he captured the 2009 HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship. Meanwhile, it was another tough-luck loss for Hall, who fell to Ben Martin in a playoff two weeks ago at the United Leasing Championship.”I’m not tired of this yet. We’ll just have to get ’em next week in Kansas City,” he said of the Tour’s next event, the Midwest Classic.”I took one less (club) than in regulation,” he said of his club selection in the playoff, electing to go with an 8-iron instead of the 7-iron he had used 20 minutes earlier. “I was a little bit in between clubs. I wanted to give myself a putt. It was the right club. I just hit a poor shot. It was the right club if I hit it good.”For 54-hole leader Chad Collins, who had a shot at 59 himself and set a Web.com Tour record with his nine-hole 27 Friday, he also stayed positive. “I’m disappointed, but this is something to move forward on, something I can take into the next tournament and into the rest of the year. I don’t see why I can’t be in this position from here on out,” the Indiana native said. “If you would have told me at the beginning of the week I was going to tie for third, was going to shoot 60, shoot 27 for nine holes, heck yeah I’ll take that.”
Utah had six players in the tournament, but only one, Clay Ogden, made the cut. He finished in 55th place with rounds of 68-68-69-70-275.
Final-Round Notes– There was at least one 18-hole score between 59 (Will Wilcox) and 77 (Tain Lee) this week at the Utah Championship.– Bogey-free rounds (45)First Round (12): Shane Bertsch, Paul Claxton, Jason Gore, Scott Harrington, Richard S. Johnson, Jamie Lovemark, Andy Pope, Alex Prugh, B.J. Staten, Matt Weibring, Ron Whittaker, Tim WilkinsonSecond Round (18): Miguel Angel Carballo, Paul Claxton, Chad Collins, Matt Davidson, Kevin Foley, Ashley Hall, I.J. Jang, Jamie Lovemark, Ben Martin, Phillip Pettitt, Jr. Andrew Putnam, Fran Quinn, Alexandre Rocha, Richard Scott, Nate Smith, Ryan Spears, Peter Tomasulo, Tim WilkinsonThird Round (3): Steven Alker, Hudson Swafford, Tim WilkinsonFourth Round (12): Steven Alker, Todd Demsey, Derek Fathauer, Aaron Goldberg, Ashley Hall, Ben Martin, Fran Quinn, Richard Scott, B.J. Staten, Hudson Swafford, Kevin Tway, Will Wilcox– Michael Putnam, the 2010 Utah Championship winner, who opened 69-63-67, couldn’t get anything going on his final round, shot a 1-over 72 Sunday and tied for 30th, his worst finish in five starts. He earned $3,750 to add to his all-time leading Utah Championship total that’s now at $178,401.– Todd Demsey, who won the 1998 Utah Open at Willow Creek Country Club the year before the Web.com Tour moved to the course, shot a final-round 64 to tie for seventh. It was his first top-10 since the 2007 Peek’n Peak Classic and his best showing since he tied for sixth at the 2007 Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship.– Ashley Hall has turned in eight consecutive sub-par rounds on the Web.com Tour. All of his rounds at the United Leasing Championship, where he lost in a playoff, were under par. In the Utah Championship he again turned in four under-par rounds and lost in a playoff (68-62-67-65)