MUCH KNEE-DED WIN
Vargas Wins His 2nd MBC
Victory Signals He’s Still A Contender
MANHATTAN BEACH – Doug Vargas, who won at Manhattan Beach in 2011, became the tournament’s first 2-time winner Sunday, finishing 2 strokes ahead of Chris Moawad. “It feels fantastic, it feels awesome! Totally worth all the yelling my wife just gave me on the phone, totally worth it!” On account of an injured knee, the tournament was just his 2nd in the past 8 months. “I don’t even know where it came from,” said Vargas, who shot just 1 stroke off his MBC personal best. “I was just hitting the greens, two putting, it was the best golf I played in two years.”
The win was not only the 11th of the 7-year veteran’s career, it may have been his most important. Except for an appearance at the not-so-physically demanding Survivor, Vargas essentially shut his 2012 season down following the Players Championship in Las Vegas. He entered 2013, his career at a crossroads. 3 times he had finished as the Tour’s #2 ranked golfer, making him the best never to have won Player of the Year. But with a damaged knee, were his best days – and a shot at capturing that elusive #1 – behind him? “This is actually the season I want to win [Player of the Year]. I wanna take it. I wanna show everyone the injury is behind me, and that I’m still one of the top 4 golfers on this Tour.” As he has done in the past, Doug Vargas has a knack for fending off the circling buzzards of doubt, and his win to start 2013 couldn’t have made his ambitions any clearer.
2013 MBC FINAL SCORES
| PLACE | GOLFER | SCORES | HANDICAP | NET |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 2 T3 T3 5 6 7 8 9 10 | D. Vargas Moawad Bird Mann Gordón Crump Grigorian Vaughan Witt T. Joe | 34-36=70 34-33=67 41-36=77 38-36=74 43-41=84 41-44=85 41-41=82 43-49=92 49-49=98 53-47=100 | -20 -15 -23 -20 -20 -20 -15 -20 -23 -20 | 50 52 54 54 64 65 67 72 75 80 |
QUICK CHIPS
Getting off to a good start: Doug Vargas’s latest season opening win was his 3rd in the past 6 years… Vargas carded the days most pars (7)… John Mann established a new MBC record for bogeys (12)… Tweet-tweet: Chris Moawad (1st round, 2nd hole) and Patrick Bird (2nd round, 5th hole) only golfers with birdies… Damn those handicaps!: Chris Moawad, despite matching the tournament record gross for a 2nd straight year, (he shot identical 34-33-67 rounds) finished 2nd again… From the penthouse to the outhouse: Defending champion Tim Joe finished last, and became just the 2nd player in MBC history to shoot 100… MBC Career bests: John Mann (74), Travois Gordón (84), Patrick Bird, single round (36)… Milestones: Doug Vargas and Gerry Vaughan played their 60th career tournaments. Tim Joe played his 70th (2nd most on the all-time list)… New Tour record: Armen Grigorian established a new consecutive tournament played streak (38).