Castle Rock – On Sunday, Steve Flesch broke the cardinal rule of The International.
Thou shalt make a bundle of points on the par-5 holes.
Flesch didn’t. And he had to settle for a tie for third place.
“The par 5s this week just killed me,” Flesch said. “I just made one birdie on the par 5s today.”
Flesch was being a bit hard on himself. He did record eight birdies on the par 5s during the tournament. But the 492-yard 17th offers one of the best eagle opportunities at Castle Pines. And Flesch managed only one birdie there (on Saturday) and made bogey on that hole during his opening round.
Golfers who make par on No. 17 drop two points to most of the field. Make a bogey for minus-1 and it’s at least a three-point swing. The 17th hole yielded two 5-point eagles and 22 two-point birdies on Sunday alone.
“I played that 17th hole awful all week,” Flesch said. “I hit the fairway one time (third round) and I (netted) one point on that hole,” Flesch said. “That hole, looking back, killed me.”
Had Flesch made a birdie on No. 17, he could have joined Tom Lehman and eventual champion Dean Wilson in the playoff. Flesch finished with 32 points, two behind the leaders, after making only pars on the last three holes.
A left-hander, Flesch pulled his tee shot into the right rough on No. 17.
He couldn’t reach the green with his second shot and ultimately missed a 13-foot birdie putt.
Flesch had one more opportunity but failed to drain a 16-foot birdie try on No. 18.
“I said all week that I should have won,” Flesch said. “I didn’t put the ball in the fairway when I needed to.
“(No. 17) is an awkward tee shot for me. I don’t like driver off that tee. That’s just how it goes. It’s part of the game. I hit it up the right side of the rough. I had my chances.”
On the other hand, the 17th hole almost became Stewart Cink’s savior. Having scored only two points on the day to that point, Cink added five more with an eagle. He reached the green with a 277-yard second shot and then buried a 20-footer for an eagle-3.
That moved Cink to within two points of the leaders. But he pushed his tee shot on No. 18 into the right rough and came up short of the green with his approach. Knowing his chances of winning had all but disappeared, Cink came up short with an indifferent pitch shot and then missed an 18-foot par-saver.
“I had a lot of opportunities today,” Cink said. “I just didn’t quite take advantage. I played the kind of round you have when you finish fifth, not when you win.
“I needed to stick a few more irons closer and maybe have a few more irons drop.”
