Michael McGowan was just 3 feet away from sending the Trusted Choice Big “I” National Championship to a sudden-death playoff.
His 20- to 25-foot birdie putt from the edge of the 18th green to win rolled just to the right of the hole. So, all he could do was knock it in from 3 feet to tie.
But he missed that putt to the right.
With that, Denny McCarthy won his first Big “I” Thursday, shooting a 65 to finish at 10-under 270. McGowan, of Southern Pines, N.C., scored a 68 to finish one stroke back.
McCarthy, of Burtonsville, Md., said it’s the biggest victory of his career.
“I went out there today and wanted to have fun,” the rising high school junior said. “It will make the plane ride better.”
Corey Konieczki, the third-round leader from Rockford, Ill., had a tough Thursday with a 74, but his 6-under 274 was good enough for third. Cory McElyea of Santa Cruz, Calif., was fourth at 4-under, and Midwest City’s Talor Gooch hung onto fifth place at 3-under, tied with Joshua Briere of Newport, Vt.
“I felt like today I was in good position to win, but I was never able to get into a rhythm,” Gooch said. “The breaks didn’t fall my way.”
While the two Macs shot the front nine holes under par, Konieczki — who led McGowan by three strokes going into the round, shot 2-over on the side, then triple-bogeyed the par-4 10th hole.
McCarthy held a one-shot lead at 10-under going to the 15th, where McCarthy’s shot from the fairway sailed over the green and onto the concrete bridge, just about a foot away from a creek.
“I was trying to run a pitch wedge to the back of the green, and I shot it too far,” said McCarthy, who was told by a rules official the bridge was part of the hazard and he couldn’t get relief. He shot from the concrete and landed back onto the green, where he made a bogey putt. McGowan parred the hole to take the lead.
The leaders were tied through the 17th, where both made birdie on the par-3 hole.
Oklahoma’s run at supremacy
Gooch, the Carl Albert High senior-to-be and Oklahoma State commit, closed with a 71 in his attempt to keep the championship in the state. Logan McCracken of Oklahoma City won last year in Pinehurst, N.C.
