Bill Lunde wins Turning Stone Championship
Bill Lunde won his first PGA Tour event of the season at the Turning Stone Resort Championship on Sunday. He rallied with a six-under 66 finishing with a total of 17 under 271. After holding off J.J. Henry, Lunde won the tournament by one stroke.
Lunde started out shaky but finished strong on the Atunyote Golf Club, catapulting into the lead Sunday with six birdies on the front nine. He played even par on the last nine holes before the come-from-behind victory, his first win in 53 career starts.
Lunde received $720,000 for the win, a berth in the PGA Championship next week at Whistling Straits, and a PGA Tour exemption through 2012. Lunde also earned 250 FedEx Cup points. This year was Lunde’s second full season on the PGA Tour.
“I started driving it really well, hitting it down the fairway," Lunde said. "So that kind of changed the whole game. I went from scrambling to make pars to having 9 irons that I could hit close.”
Lunde made the weekend cut by one stroke, and shot a 64 on Saturday putting him into contention. Halfway through Sunday he broke away with the lead thanks to his six birdies and a 30 on the front nine. After a birdie on the ninth hole Lunde had reached 17-under, but lost a stoke on the par three 11th hole where he ran into trouble with a green side bunker.
Henry tied the course record with a 63 but still had to settle for second place at 16-under. It was his best finish of the season. Henry took advantage of his early morning start, carding seven birdies and one eagle at the par-five 12th hole.
Third place was tied between Jerry Kelly, Josh Teater, Michael Sim, Bill Mayfair, and Alex Cejka at 15-under. Cejka was leading after the second and third rounds but fell behind on Sunday closing with an even-par 72.
Lunde stopped playing professional golf in 2005 after poor finishes on the Nationwide Tour. He didn’t qualify for the PGA’s qualifying school so he went into real estate, a career which didn’t last long and finally wound up on the Butch Harmon Tour.
Lunde earned a spot in the Nationwide Tour for 2008 and won the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational the same year to finish fifth on the money list. He also earned a spot on the PGA Tour for 2009. This year he is the 12th first time winner on the PGA Tour, and his 73 after the first round is the highest start by any winner on the Tour this season.
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