J.R. Roth takes the Tournament of Champions title home for the fifth time
J.R. Roth won the Michigan PGA’s Tournament of Champions for the record matching fifth time, by three strokes over Martin Jeppesen. Previously, the record was held by Michael Harris alone.
Roth started off his final round campaign on top of the leaderboard along with other two players, Jeppesen and Tim Matthews, with a six-under par two-round score.
Jeppesen, who plays on the E-Tour, recorded six birdies against three bogeys and a double bogey. He settled for a one-under par 71 for a seven-under par tournament score.
Meanwhile, Matthews recorded four birdies against the same number of bogeys to remain at where he started in the afternoon.
Jeppesen took the second place on the leaderboard, while Matthews shared the third spot with Wes Gates, an amateur from the Bowling Green State University.
Roth, on the other hand, showed some consistency and suffered only two bogeys against six birdies to settle for a 10-under par tournament score at Boyne Mountain Resort.
According to him, he lost his focus while playing the final three holes of his front nine. Yet, he managed to make a comeback on the back nine and sealed a remarkable victory in the end.
"I got a little frustrated on 6, 7, 8 and 9, kind of lost my swing a little bit, and couldn't get the ball to go in the hole," Roth said. "When I made the turn, I knew I needed to make three or four birdies. I was able to do that in the end, Tim and Marty had some bogeys and I was able to walk it down 17 and 18 and enjoy it a little bit".
According to Matthews, the meltdown on the final four holes cost him the victory in the tournament, as he recorded three of his four bogeys on the final four.
He stated that one cannot make such mistakes, especially when he is playing against a great player like Roth.
"He hits it down the middle, knocks it on the green and makes putts, and well, wins," Matthews said. "He's a great, great player and that's why he is making history".
Roth pocketed $10,000 of the $55,000 purse offered in the tournament.
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