BIRD SIGHTING
Patrick Bird Surprises at Griffith
(ROOSEVELT, Griffith Park) – While 2 coyotes freely roamed the golf course, it was a “bird”, that of the Patrick variety, that left a lasting impression Sunday in the 10th edition of the Griffith Observatory Championship. The Tour charter member took home his first Astronomer’s Monument Trophy after carding a new career best 48. It was his best score in his last 6 Griffith starts and 3 strokes lower than his previous best, established back in 2008. “Yea. I felt like it from the very first hole,” responded Bird when asked if he was aware it was a special round. “I think it’s probably the first time I played with one ball this whole course.” The win was his 2nd in his last 3 tournaments (he won the Hooters), which, after a 20-tournament winless streak, begs the question: Does winning breed winning? “Sure. It’s like anything else. When you have a little confidence it definitely helps,” answered Bird. “Plus I think it’s the kind of thing when you’ve settled down a few things, and you’re playing a little bit better, you’re just playing better.”
ELUSIVE
Veteran Chris Moawad will have to wait another year to try to capture his first Griffith (1 of 2 tournaments remaining for him to complete the career slam). Moawad finished runner-up for the 2nd time in his last 3 Griffith starts. Despite a new career best round (42) and setting a new tournament record for pars (5), the 16-time Tour winner was the first to point out the shortcomings in his game Sunday. “You know of the holes I did poorly on, I did really poorly, so I kinda knew coming into it that it was going to be a long shot. But hats off to Bird.”
2016 GOC FINAL SCORES (par-33)
| PLACE | GOLFER | SCORE | HANDICAP | NET |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | Bird Moawad Witt Mann Crump Vaughan E. Quiroz Frost D. Vargas | 48 42 52 48 50 51 51 55 57 | 20 12 20 15 16 16 12 15 12 | 28 30 32 33 34 35 39 40 45 |
QUICK CHIPS:
Rollover: No golfer carded a birdie. $9 will rollover to the Masters… New record: Chris Moawad’s 5 pars set a new tournament record for pars. Only 3 golfers (Mann, Witt, Moawad) carded pars… Firsts: 2015 defending champion Martin Witt carded a career high 2 pars, par’ing the 1st and 5th hole for the first time in his career; the pars were his first in his last 5 starts at Roosevelt. Chris Moawad par’d the always treacherous 6th hole for the first time in his career. Gerry Vaughan made a career-best bogey on the 8th hole, rated the course’s most difficult… Streak ends: Tim Joe not only missed the tournament for the first time in his career, his Tour record for consecutive starts ended at 57. It is a record unlikely to ever be matched or broken. Ed Quiroz established a new consecutive tournaments played streak (6)… New normal: for the 2nd straight year a tournament low 9 golfers made up the field… Milestones: John Mann made his 65th career start, Ed Quiroz 15th.
