DILLON WINS AT ANTHEM, STOLTZ TAKES LEAD IN RACE FOR NATIONWIDE TOUR EXEMPTION
Posted in Tour News
By Ryan Woodcock
Ryan Dillon carded birdies on three of his last five holes, including a birdie on 18, to shoot a final-round 5-under 67 on his way to a two-shot victory on the Gateway Pro Tour’s second Arizona Winter Series tournament of the year.
Dillon shot 12-under over the three rounds at Anthem’s Ironwood course, and shot 67-70 over the first two rounds to sit in a tie for second at 7-under, one shot off back of leader Scott Harrington heading into the final round.
Paired with Harrington in the final group, Dillon tied things up at 8-under after a birdie on the par-3 fourth. He stayed at 8-under after going bogey-birdie on five and six, but Harrington got back on top at 9-under after his first birdie of the afternoon on the par-5 sixth. Dillon added a birdie on eight and the duo made the turn knotted at 9-under par.
Derek Berg, playing a group ahead of Dillon and Harrington, recorded back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12 to take the lead at 10-under, but gave one back after his bogey on the par-4 13th.
Harrington had a costly double-bogey on the par-3 11th that dropped him to 7-under, and Dillon had his first birdie on the back nine on the 14th that got him to 10-under. He countered that with another birdie on 15, and added his birdie on the par-5 18th for good measure to give him the two-shot win over Berg and Harrington.
Harrington struggled on the back, but managed to card birdies on 17 and 18 to jump into a T2 with Berg, who also birdied the final hole of the day.
Dillon got the win playing in his first tournament of the year, and it was his first victory since the 2010 season, when he won at Vista Verde in October.
Jesse Mueller shot rounds of 70-68-69 to finish fourth at 9-under par; Benoit Beisser shot a final-round 68 to finish solo fifth at 8-under; and Riley Arp and Drew Stoltz finished T6 at 6-under par.
Stoltz’ T6 finish follows up his T2 last week to move him into first in the Points Race for the exemption into the Nationwide Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am. Stoltz leads with 2,850 points, followed by Derek Berg in second with 2,175 points, Lucas Delgado in third with 2,150 points and Dillon with 2,000 points. Rounding out the Top-10 are Scott Harrington in fifth (1,979), Brady Stockton in sixth (1,890), Chris Evans in seventh (1,750), Benoit Beisser in eighth (1,675), Chris Kamin in ninth (1,455) and Brady Schnell in 10th (1,325).
Next up on the GPT is the SCOR Golf Classic at Raven Verrado, Jan. 31-Feb. 2. This is also the final event of the three-tournament Points Race to see who will earn the coveted Nationwide Tour exemption to the BMW Charity Pro-Am. Stoltz has the lead, but it’s a test over three tournaments and the exemption is still up for grabs. Check back here next week to see who comes out on top.
Good luck everyone!
