Joe Highsmith was nearly flawless during the third round at Augusta National, and that lifted him to his team-best third victory in the tour’s final regular-season event.
Clay Feagler went into the final round with a four-shot lead over Highsmith but couldn’t overcome a brutal start. His lead was erased after just four holes, and when Feagler posted his fourth bogey in the first six holes, Highsmith birdied #6 to go up by two. Highsmith then birdied #8 to go up by three, and he kept the lead at two or three strokes the rest of the way.
Highsmith wound up with an 11-under 205, three shots better than Feagler. Highsmith won the regular-season championship with a season scoring average of 68.20 — he was 17 shots better than the runner-up — and he’ll be the #1 seed at the Tour Championship.
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Leaderboard: 1. Joe Highsmith 205 (69-69-67); 2. Clay Feagler 208 (68-66-74); T3. Joshua McCarthy 213 (75-69-69); T3. William Mouw 213 (70-71-72); 5. Johnny Mac Arthur 214 (70-73-71); 6. Sahith Theegala 215 (72-71-72); 7. Andrew Putnam 218 (77-69-72); T8. RJ Manke 221 (72-73-76); T8. Joey Vrzich 221 (73-72-76); T10. Frederick Wedel 225 (74-76-75); T10. Austin Murphy 225 (77-72-76); 12. Derek Hitchner 227 (77-76-74); 13. Roy Cootes 228 (77-73-78); 14. Kevin DeHuff 230 (76-77-77); 15. Josh Anderson 233 (80-76-77); 16. Cody McManus 238 (76-81-81).
- Highsmith was 4-under on the front nine, then added two more birdies on the back nine. His only bogey came on 17. It opened the door for Feagler, but he also bogeyed the hole.
- Feagler had just two bogeys in the first two rounds, then had five in the final round.
- There were only three below-par scores in the final round. After Highsmith, McCarthy had a 3-under 69 and MacArthur had a 1-under 71.
- Mac Arthur won’t advance to the Tour Championship, but he ended his season on a high note with a season-best fifth-place finish. He had an eagle on the par-4 14th hole plus one birdie.
- The course played its hardest in round three, as the average score went up to 74.2. The average score for the tournament was 73.6. Only the top six players finished below par.
- It’s the end of the road for McManus, DeHuff, Mac Arthur and Anderson, as they finished out of the top 12 for overall scoring and won’t advance to the Tour Championship. The top four seeds — Highsmith, Theegala, Feagler and McCarthy — will have first-round byes in the match-play competition.
ROGER SPORTS & GAMES 