The layup second shot was perfect. All that was left for Boyd Summerhays was to get on the green in three, two-putt and collect a $23,000 winner’s check. After leading the HealthONE Colorado Open for nearly all of the previous 71 holes, with bogeys on only five of them, a Summerhays win rested on just one more par.
But a few minutes after that second shot, Summerhays found himself one of three losers to Brian Guetz in a sudden-death playoff Sunday at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club.
“I did the right things, I thought,” a stunned Summerhays said. “The third shot just knuckled on me. It’s real disappointing, but what can you do?”
Summerhays’ bogey on the par-5, 639-yard 18th hole cost his one-stroke lead, creating a four-way tie and sudden-death playoff that began on the same 18th hole. Guetz won with a 15-foot birdie putt, claiming the Open for the second time and becoming the first to win as an amateur (1994) and a pro.
“I really didn’t think I had much of a chance to get in the playoff,” said Guetz, a Heritage High School alum now living in Scottsdale, Ariz. “But when I did, I kind of got a second wind. But after I bogeyed the hole in regulation, I was packed up and ready to go home.”
Guetz came into No. 18 tied with Summerhays at 8-under, but rolled a putt for par just wide, falling one shot back with Summerhays having just teed off behind him.
With a massive intersection of cattails off to the right, about 100 yards from the 18th green, golfers can either try to cowboy up or lay up on their second shots. If the golfer can clear the cattails in two shots, he will have a much easier chance for eagle or birdie.
Summerhays didn’t need to gamble with his second shot, and he put a perfect shot in the fairway. But his third shot hit the sand trap behind the hole, leading to eventual ruin and providing playoff chances for Guetz, Mike Small and defending champ John Douma.
In the playoff, Summerhays and Small hit their second shots into the cattails and had to take a penalty drop. Guetz and Douma played it safe and found the green in three shots. Douma barely missed a birdie putt 2 feet outside of Guetz on the same line. Guetz rolled his birdie chance into the hole, winning the Open for the first time since he did it as an amateur in 1994.
“You could tell the guys who went down the right side wanted to go for it,” Guetz said. “To me, I just wanted to lay up and either try for a birdie or par the old-fashioned way. Either way, it’s a risk. I just got lucky with the last putt.
“I thought (Douma’s) putt was in. From the initial read, I thought he made his (when the ball was) about halfway to the hole, but he didn’t get the break at the end. That helped me with my putt, for sure.”
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
