This year's Woodlawn Classic horse race winner, Nolan Rohatyn, saved his best shot for the last hole.
As the sun's intensity relaxed in the western skies on Sunday, over 200 people, most of them sitting in golf carts that ringed the ninth hole green, looked on as Rohatyn wrapped a four-iron around a tree trunk, while cutting a Titleist 160 yards and to the left of the waiting crowd.
A gentle wedge shot that left his golf ball below the hole, and a bold 10-foot putt that dipped into the centre of the cup, provided the young, yet veteran golfer, a tie with the other last-standing competitor Brett Blackstock.
The ensuing chip-off saw Rohatyn leave his wedge shot about five feet short of the pin, while Blackstock's shot carried over the flag and onto the backside of the green. It gave Rohatyn the horse race title, something he had captured at least twice before.
"The adrenaline just kicked in and I knew it as soon as I hit it," said Blackstock of his overzealous chip-off shot that cost him the Sunday title.
"I thought I broke my wrists," Rohatyn laughed in recounting the shot that became necessary after he found his ball nestled at the base of the offending tree on the right side of the fairway, blocking him from a clear line to the green.
Knowing he had opportunity for a full backswing, but no room for follow-through, and needing the 160 yards, Rohatyn took a full cut at the ball, knowing there would be consequences. The whiplash of club hitting tree sent the four-iron out of his hands and about eight feet behind him. The pain was worth the effort as the ball sailed toward the green and to the left, giving him an opportunity to stay in the final hole match-up with Blackstock, who had taken a more conventional route to the green, via fairway and right-side, green-side fringe to card his par.
"Every year this horse race brings a little more pressure it seems," said Rohatyn while accepting the congratulations from gallery members and the other 10 competitors who had started the race with him nine holes earlier.
"Playing the round with Brett and Boomer (Marcus Friess) and Anthony (Melle), just gives off an awesome atmosphere and the crowd it gets noisy, but you gotta love it. Coming down nine, feeling the rivalry and the friendship, it's pretty sweet," Rohatyn said.
Blackstock and Rohatyn said it required a lot of work to stay focused and play within their games while playing in front of a large crowd of aficionados.
"Yeah, we talk with each other, but we also try to stay focused on the game," said Rohatyn.
Blackstock laughed and added he wished he had been able to stay focused on his last shot. "I kinda crushed it didn't I?"
The horse race began on the first hole with 11 competitors, not the usual 12 since championship flight qualifier Ron Dunville had disqualified himself earlier in the day after shooting an opening day 76 to make it into the premier flight of the tournament.
"I signed the scorecard with the wrong score. It showed I had a five on one hole when I actually had taken a six. When I got home last night (Saturday) I realized what I had done, so this morning I checked in and disqualified myself for signing an incorrect card," Dunville said.
With 11 in the race, that meant two golfers would be eliminated on the first hole and then one golfer per hole, until the two last men standing would duel down the ninth to the finish line.
Cody Balon and Ryan Stovin were the first to be eliminated with bogey scores on the 359 yard, par four, first hole.
Jim Larter was the next to drop out, getting in trouble early on the second hole with a pooch drive and a short approach, leaving him with six strokes and an early visit with the golf-cart crowd.
Parnell Pidhorny was the fourth drop out, hitting a drive that left him with an unplayable ball, a penalty and a bogey.
Nathan Jesse was next to drop away with a bogey on the short par four fourth hole and then it was Tyson Price's turn to accept dismissal with a bogey on the following par four.
A chip-off among Blackstock, Friess and Brock Simpson left Simpson on the sidelines and then the man who would eventually win the Woodlawn Classic championship title, Anthony Melle, went down on the seventh hole after he smashed a drive into some heavy overgrowth, leaving him with an unplayable lie and an eventual bogey after the penalty.
Friess and Rohatyn engaged in a chip-off following play on the par three eighth hole, with Rohatyn prevailing. It led to the climatic finish on nine with Rohatyn finding the base of the tree.
After capturing the horse race title, Rohatyn completed the tournament the next day with a third-place finish behind Melle and Simpson. Melle had rushed to the lead with the opening day 69 that placed distance between him and the other 10 contenders, an edge he never really relinquished as he finished with a final round 75, and the other piece of hardware.
