Scott Gardiner wins the Golf Chattanooga Classic without focusing on the leader board
There are those who can’t think anything less than the leader board, and then there is Scott Gardiner.
Scott Gardiner won the recent Chattanooga classic 2010 held on 10th of October. The event had been a tough match between Joe Affrunti, David Branshaw and Gardiner at the Black Creek Club. To par, all these players carded a minus 19 at the leader
board. Scott ended the last round and the tournament with a minus 6 for a 66. Affrunti and Branshaw carded a minus 1 and minus 2 at the last round with a 71 and 70.
According to the leader board statistics, for a 269 total, Gardiner carded the highest score in round one with a 69. His latter three rounds were recorded as 66, 68 and 66. The runner-up Affrunti scored the highest at the last round on Sunday. He carded
a 71 at the end, whereas, his first three rounds carded 64, 66 and a 68. David Branshaw’s highest score was in his last round as well. He carded two 67s in R1 and R2, an impressive 65 in R3 and 70 in round four.
According to Gardiner, he didn’t think about winning at all. From the tough competition that prevailed in R4, Affrunti and Branshaw were the first one to bow out. Both of these players faced hurdles with water, which subdued the intensity of their score
cards.
So Gardiner won the game and even though he didn’t focus much on winning, he managed to give a fist pump high in the air after he completed his last hole, claiming the tournament.
According to Affrunti, both he and Branshaw had something against making birdies. Affrunti says that both of them played a rather silly game. The runner-up said that they weren’t able to collect many birdies, and the few ones they collected were soon taken
over by the bogeys that made.
Branshaw said that he doesn’t quite know how Gardiner was able to card a minus 6 at the last round. Gardiner turned his game around after he reached his score of 2 under. Call it motivation or good luck; Gardiner collected birdies thereafter and finally
played his winning shot from the bunker’s front of the 18th hole. Gardiner labels his play at the 18th hole as the best putt of his life.
After playing from the bunker’s front, the Australian held 1 shot lead over Branshaw and Affrunti, and signed his scorecard. He still had no thoughts about winning, and all he could think was Affrunti and Branshaw achieving a birdie at the last hole.
He was absolutely right, the birdie achieved by the formerly stated resulted in a play-off.
But it didn’t keep Branshaw that long and his shot resulted in a hazard. This led Branshaw carding a par, which fell short, leaving him behind Gardiner and Affrunti in the scores.
That opened newer grounds with Affrunti and Gardiner battling for the lead.
After heading to the 18th hole again, Branshaw’s ball shot found came across the same obstacle as Affruntis shot did and faltered from the fairway. Gardiner, on the other hand, played a safe game. He first sent his ball to the back and middle
of the green. This was further two-putted and was hence played for the birdie.
The birdie thus achieved was a gateway to victory and $ 90,000 prize money. The winner was also the recipient of a new watch and a crystal trophy to go with it.
His win at the Chattanooga Classic has moved Gardiner from position number 62 to the 24th on the Nationwide Tour money list. Gardiner says that all he was focusing on was getting the job done. He said that he was trying to have the best finish
possible especially with the way Affrunti was playing; he said he wasn’t looking at the leader board.
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