On one pitch of fate hung $270,000 at Bear Mountain Golf Resort.Time seemed to stand still for the 5,300 fans as Mike Weir’s final shot sailed through the air Tuesday afternoon.
When it landed three feet from the pin, the sudden hush was cracked by a thunderous roar of approval.
Organizers couldn’t have scripted it better for the home-country favourite as the 2010 Telus World Skins Game went to an extra-hole, 125-yard closest-to-the-pin pitch-off. PGA Tour veteran and 2003 Masters champion Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont., planted his shot three feet from the pin to win the $270,000 that was on the line.
Weir won 12 skins with the shot. Three skins were carried over from the first day, Monday, and all nine skins from Tuesday carried over to the extra hole.
PGA Tour player Camilo Villegas came closest to upending Weir on the extra hole, landing his pitch less than five feet from the pin. The result was in doubt until the players came to the green to see the shots and the Colombian Villegas picked up his ball, saying Weir was about a foot-and-a-half closer.
“It was nice to hit a good shot at the right time. That’s what Skins play is about,” said Weir, who next plays in the British Open.
“It was tough to make birdies today because of the tough pin placements.”
Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen of South Africa finished with $75,000 in the $360,000 event, all won on Monday. Ian Poulter of England, 2010 Accenture World Match Play champion, finished with $15,000, also from Monday.
Villegas and former PGA Tour star and Masters champion Fred Couples of the U.S., the latter known as the King of Skins for his past success in the format with 68 skins and $1.2 million in earnings in 10 previous Telus World Skins Games, both came away with no money this year.
But for one pitch shot, Weir may also have finished with a blank sheet.
Instead, he is $270,000 richer because of one shot.
“I’ve had a bit of a drought lately in this (annual) event, so I was glad to get in the money this time,” said Weir.
Asked by reporters if the pitch-off reminded him of side-bet type scenarios he might have played with friends and golfers when younger, Weir said there wasn’t $270,000 riding on those shots.
“Approaching that final shot, I had to dial in a (special) feeling and put the right something on it,” he said.
It was a day of close calls on the greens.
Weir caught the lip of the 17th hole and missed a five-foot putt that would have won that hole and the $245,000 worth of skins that had built up to that point.
“It was that kind of day,” said Weir. “It was tough to separate yourself (from the group).”
Telus donated $1 million for the Queen Alexandra Foundation for Children, which is directing Skins Game proceeds to its Jeneece Place project which will provide a place to stay and support near Victoria General Hospital for up-Island families of sick children.
Bear Mountain’s extra hole was used for a hole-in-one competition. If any of the five golfers had aced that hole, Telus would have donated an extra $1 million to Jeneece Place. Weir almost did, rolling his shot to within eight inches of the ace.
“A part of me was rooting for (Weir) and Jeneece Place and a part of me was panicking,” chuckled Joe Natale, chief commercial officer for Telus.
-Vancouver Sun
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