Dunlap closes with 71, wins by one
PANAMA CITY, Panama – Scott Dunlap emerged from a packed leaderboard late
Sunday in Central America to win the Panama Movistar Championship, the
opening tournament on the 2008 Nationwide Tour schedule. Dunlap’s
final-round, 1-over-par 71 was good enough to better the field at the
difficult Panama Golf Club, where only four players bested par for the
week. Dunlap’s 3-under 277 total was one stroke better than Jeff Klauk (69)
and third-round leader Arjun Atwal (74). Chris Smith (74) finished at
1-under par to round out the quartet of sub-par scores.
“It’s the first tournament of the year and you almost don’t have any
expectations,” said Dunlap, who hadn’t had a top-3 finish since winning the
2004 Mark Christopher Charity Classic, a span of 79 starts. “I hadn’t
played a round of golf since Christmas. You come out here and you hope to
play well but you never know until the first tee. I mean, I was hitting it
good on the range but you never know if that will transfer to the golf
course.”
The final nine holes, much like most of the week, would turn into a game
of Survivor, which was only fitting since that particular television show
was filmed off the Panama coast a few years back.
Atwal began the final round with a birdie to get to 7-under but gave four
shots back to the field by the turn. He wouldn’t make another birdie the
rest of the way and fell two back with a bogey at No. 15.
Smith also struggled out of the gate, with a consecutive bogeys starting
at No. 5. He still held a share of the lead at the turn but bogeys at Nos.
10 and 11 forced him to play catch-up on a golf course that produced a
final-round scoring average nearly four strokes over-par (73.677).
Klauk, the first-round leader, played one of the steadier rounds on
Sunday, a 1-under 69 that put him in the clubhouse at 2-under and hoping
the others would fall back to him.
“It’s almost like U. S. Open conditions here,” said Dunlap, who held the
second-round lead at minus-7. “The wind blows and the golf course gets
firm. You know that scoring won’t be that far under-par. It’s the same
every year. Par is always a good on this course.”
Dunlap’s birdie at the par-5, 12th put him at 4-under and in first
place, which he promptly returned with a bogey on the next hole. Dunlap
took command at the 409-yard, 15th hole when he stuffed a 6-iron from 171
yards to 5 feet and canned the birdie putt for a two-stroke lead. “I saw
the board and knew I had the lead at that point,” said Dunlap. “You can’t
shoot 10- or 12-under on this golf course. Well, maybe Tiger (Woods) can,
but not the rest of us. I can hit good iron shots and two-putt with the
best of them. It was going to be that kind of day.”
Playing in the next-to-last group, Dunlap opened the door slightly when
he missed the green at No. 18 and failed to get up-and-down for par,
missing a 5-footer for par.
“I have some issues and my putting can be one of them,” said Dunlap, who
will switch his putting grip usually depending on the length of the putt.
“I know what I have to work on. All of us are a work in progress.”
When the final twosome failed to make birdies, the trophy and first-place
check of $108,000 was secured.
“To win on this golf course is very rewarding,” said Dunlap, who had
conditional status on Tour to start the week. “This essentially gives me a
two-year exemption. This sets me up for the rest of the year and gets me
about halfway to earning my PGA TOUR card for next year.”
Klauk had nothing but pars on his scorecard for the final 11 holes and
steadily made progress forward, while it seemed most of the field had it in
reverse. “It’s just a hard golf course,” said the St. Augustine, FL
resident. “We’re not used to these difficult conditions sometimes. I’m a
grinder and I like it when it’s tough and par is a good score.”
Klauk’s T2 finish is his best since won the 2003 Preferred Health Systems
Wichita Open and only his sixth top-3 in 152 career starts. “This is very
encouraging,” he said. “My coach, Cody Barden and I have been working very
hard on a lot of things in the off-season and it’s nice to see that pay
off.”
Final-Round News & Notes: Sunday’s scoring average was 73.677, making it
the toughest single day in tournament history. The cumulative scoring
average was 72.982…Kim Felton’s 3-under 67 in Thursday’s opening round was
the only bogey-free round of the tournament…The Nationwide Tour heads to
Morelia, Mexico next week for the inaugural Mexico Open presented by
Corona. The tournament will be held at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Tres
Marias Golf Club Jan. 31-Feb. 3.
Return to Other Tours archives