ALUMNI UPDATE – GARRIGUS, MALLINGER TIE FOR SECOND AT HUMANA CHALLENGE
Posted in Alumni News
By Ryan Woodcock
The Humana Challenge at PGA West was the third tournament of the 2012 PGA TOUR season, and for the third straight week former GPT Players nearly pulled out a victory, finishing runner-up.
The first week saw Martin Laird finish runner-up at the Tournament of Champions, followed by Sean O’Hair finishing second last week at the Sony Open. This time it was a couple of GPT players – Robert Garrigus and John Mallinger – who made a run at the title and came up just short at the end to finish T2 at 22-under par, two shots behind winner Mark Wilson.
It was an interesting week at PGA West that saw difficult playing conditions in tough winds. Despite the conditions, Garrigus put together a spectacular third round (which he had to finish on Sunday), carding a bogey-free 11-under 61 to get him into contention. He actually was tied with Wilson at 23-under heading into 17, but dropped a shot back after missing a five foot putt.
With darkness quickly approaching and trailing by one shot, Garrigus got back into it after reaching the par-5 18th in two. He barely missed his 35-foot eagle attempt that would have given him the lead, and Wilson followed by dropping his birdie putt to seal the win. Garrigus missed his comebacker and finished in a three-way tie for second with Mallinger and Johnson Wagner, who won the previous week at the Sony Open.
“We really couldn’t see that much,” said Garrigus. “I could barely pick up the flag on 18. We had a great day, and it got pretty dark. I wish I could have read that putt a little better.”
Garrigus finished the week strong after a slow start – He struggled to a 1-over 73 in the first round before recording rounds of 64-61-68 in the last three rounds. He was 6-over through the first 17 holes of the tournament, but finished 28-under in the last 55 holes.
“It was a great week, after being six over standing on that fairway on Thursday, I think I beat everybody. So I’m pretty happy about the way things turned out.”
Mallinger shot 6-under 66 in the final round, and knotted things up with Wilson after his birdie putt on 14 that got him to 22-under for the tournament. But he could only make par the rest of the way and couldn’t catch Wilson, who added birdies on two of the last three holes. Still, Mallinger put together a solid week with rounds of 67-65-68-66 and matched his best finish on the PGA TOUR.
For the week, a total of 21 former GPT players made the cut, with four finishing in the Top-10 and seven in the Top-20.
Bobby Gates and Snedeker were the other two GPT players to crack the Top-10, finishing T8 at 17-under par. Gates shot a bogey-free 5-under 67 in the final round, while Snedeker started hot with an opening-round 64 before closing with rounds of 68-66-71.
Gary Christian made birdie on the last four holes in the final round and shot 8-under 64 to finish T14 at 17-under par, while Martin Laird put together four rounds in the 60s (66-69-67-69) to match Christian at T14.
Steve Marino rebounded from a double-bogey on the 17th hole in the final round with a birdie on 18 to finish T19 at 16-under.
Another notable in the Humana field was Charlie Beljan, a full-time member of the Gateway Pro Tour in 2011 who earned his TOUR card after finishing T13 in the final stage of Q-School in December. Beljan made his first cut on the PGA TOUR, shooting rounds of 71-69-69-75 to finish 75 at 4-under par.
Next up on the PGA TOUR is a trip to Torrey Pines for the Farmers Insurance Open, Jan. 26-29, where former GPT player Bubba Watson looks to defend his title, followed by the WM Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Feb. 2-5.
Good luck to everyone next week in San Diego, and we look forward to watching you play in our own back yard at the TPC Scottsdale in two weeks!
