While Tiger Woods was en route to winning the British Open at the famed Old Course at St. Andrews, Kevin Webb was winning the annual Memorial tournament at Kitchen Creek.
“It feels pretty good,” Webb said Saturday afternoon. “It’s nice to get one under the belt.”
The win was Webb’s first tournament victory, beating the field of 38 golfers with a score of one-under par (71), which was a stroke better than Jim Ballard, who finished second at even par (72).
“[At the Senior Open], I told you that I was putting lousy and today I made about six putts over 10 feet for pars,” Ballard noted.
Webb’s win was an unexpected one for the 22-year-old, who has been playing golf for only six years, given he shot an 82 in a practice round on Friday.
“I haven’t been playing really well lately, but today I swung the club well,” noted Webb, who sports a one-handicap.
Webb put his tee shot out of bounds on the par-four, 387-yard eighth hole en route to a double-bogey that dropped him back to even par for his round. But he re-grouped with a birdie at the ninth and then a fantastic eagle on the 12th, which “pretty much won me the tournament.”
“I just kept playing for pars after that,” he noted.
Coming in third was Scott Bridgeman, who carded a 76 on Saturday. But he wasn’t confident heading into the annual event, held in recognition of deceased members of the club, and wasn’t happy with his score despite his top-three finish.
“The course was in really good shape, it’s just that my golf game wasn’t,” said Bridgeman, 19, who has a four-handicap.
Next up for Kitchen Creek is its Anniversary Tournament slated for a week from Thursday (July 28), with the annual Kitchen Creek Classic coming up Aug. 13-14.
“This [win] gives me confidence going into the Classic,” said Webb.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
