SOUTH BAY REDUX
Witt Triumphs At Westchester, Wins 1st Career Major 
WESTCHESTER – Nearly 3 weeks after finger surgery Martin Witt took home the first Major of his career, winning the Tour Championship on Sunday. Witt finished 1 stroke better than Patrick Bird and John Mann who tied for 2nd. “This is huge for me, it really is. It’s awesome to finish the year like this. I really feel good,” said Witt who won a non-team tournament for the first time since the nearby Manhattan Beach Championship in January 2009. With a 91-gross, Witt beat more than half the field straight up. “It’s always like, you see the handicaps and it’s like ‘Oh ok there’s mine again, the highest one’. But even with that I always know I have to play the best golf that I can do to freakin’ even have a chance. This really was one of my best rounds.”
Sunday’s victory ended a 28-tournament victory drought, no doubt making this not only the best win of his career, but the most emotional. “You know,” started Witt before taking a moment to collect himself, “in [life’s struggles] you find out God has gifts for us all, and in terms of meditation and a little bit of inner peace, I was able to focus today.”
2014 TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL SCORES
| PLACE | GOLFER | SCORES | HANDICAP | NET |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 T2 T2 4 T5 T5 7 8 9 T10 T10 12 WD | Witt Mann Bird Crump Freitas D. Vargas T. Joe W. Vargas Moawad Frost Fidler E. Quiroz Vaughan | 47-44=91 40-41=81 46-46=92 45-49=94 42-43=85 42-46=88 51-46=97 53-39=92 38-48=86 48-49=97 48-49=97 51-49=100 53- | -33 -22 -33 -29 -19 -22 -29 -22 -15 -22 -22 -19 -29 | 58 59 59 65 66 66 68 70 71 75 75 81 - |
Quick Chips: Martin Witt’s appearance Sunday was just his 3rd start in the last 6 years at the Tour Championship… And then there was 1: Witt’s victory now leaves Tim Joe as the only active Charter member without a Tour Championship victory… ‘Gross’ but no cigar: 2-time Masters champion John Mann was denied a 3rd Major by 1 stroke. He carded the day’s best gross (81) and had a tournament-high 12 bogeys. W. Vargas was next with 10 bogeys… Personal best: Patrick Bird’s runner-up finish was his best finish in a major in the last 7 years… Tweet-tweet: Chris Moawad (287 yd. par-4 6th) and Doug Vargas (285 yd. par-4 7th) carded the only birdies, splitting the $24 birdie pool (rolled over from the Devil Ball Shootout). For the season, Moawad collected $33 in birdie pool money… The good: Newcomer Nik Freitas carded a tournament-high 5 pars (4 of them on the back-9). Tim Joe was next with 4 pars… The bad: Gerry Vaughan withdrew after struggling on the front-9. Said playing partner John Mann: “He had that Vietnam vet 200-yard stare.”… 9-hole warm up: After a front-9 53 Walter Vargas improved 14 strokes and was the only golfer to go sub-40 on the back-9 (Chris Moawad the only golfer to go sub-40 on the front-9)… No title defense: The Tour Championship was Walter Vargas’s last chance for a win and a spot in this year’s Tournament of Champions where he would have been defending champion. Sunday’s result made it just the 2nd time in his 9 seasons he finished without a victory… Milestones: John Frost and Walter Vargas made their 80th career starts; Doug Vargas made his 75th, and John Mann his 60th.
TRAVOIS GORDÓN
MGM TOUR 2014 PLAYER OF THE YEAR
With 3 victories (2 of them Majors) Travois Gordón marked his 10th year on the MGM Tour by winning Player of the Year. Until his remarkable 2014 season, the highest he had finished was 6th. After winning his first Hooters Championship, Gordón became just the 2nd golfer in Tour history to pull the Match Play-Masters double. With the birth of his first child he sat out the final 2 tournaments of the season, his lead over John Frost after Devil Ball allowing him to risk his #1 ranking. Ultimately it was John Frost’s runner-up finish in the Survivor that sealed their fates. With a victory at the Tournament of Champions Gordón would challenge Chris Moawad’s 2008 4-win season for the greatest by a golfer on the MGM Grand Tour.
2014 FINAL STANDINGS
| CUR | PREV | PLAYER | EVENTS | POINTS | WINS | # OF TOP-3's | BEHIND LEAD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | GORDÓN | 6 | 978 | 3 | 3 | |
| 2 | 2 | Frost | 9 | 871 | 2 | 3 | -107 |
| 3 | 3 | Moawad | 8 | 818 | 2 | 4 | -160 |
| 4 | 4 | D. Vargas | 8 | 638 | 1 | 4 | -340 |
| 5 | 7 | Bird | 9 | 606 | 3 | -372 | |
| 6 | 12 | Witt | 6 | 590 | 1 | 2 | -388 |
| 7 | 5 | Grigorian | 5 | 548 | 1 | 3 | -430 |
| 8 | 6 | W. Vargas | 7 | 510 | 4 | -468 | |
| 9 | 11 | Mann | 7 | 479 | 2 | -499 | |
| 10 | 8 | Fidler | 8 | 404 | 1 | -574 | |
| 11 | 10 | T. Joe | 9 | 376 | 1 | -602 | |
| 12 | 9 | R. Quiroz | 6 | 331 | 1 | -647 | |
| 13 | 13 | Crump | 6 | 327 | 2 | -651 | |
| 14 | 14 | E. Quiroz | 6 | 296 | 2 | -682 | |
| 15 | 15 | Vaughan | 6 | 249 | 1 | -729 | |
| 16 | 16 | Freitas | 2 | 91 | -887 |
