Woodland Wins Reno-Tahoe Open
RENO, Nev. – Former Kansas men’s golfer Gary Woodland scored seven points Sunday to win the Reno-Tahoe Open, his second PGA Tour career victory. Woodland finished with 44 points outdistancing runner-up Jonathan Byrd’s 35 points for the title.
Unlike most PGA events, the Reno-Tahoe Open, played at the Montreux Golf and Country Club with a par 72, uses Modified Stableford Scoring. In this competitors try to score the most points in their four rounds with the following breakdown: par=0 points, birdie=2; eagle=5; double eagle=8; bogey=-1 and double bogey or higher=-3.
Woodland, the 2011 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year who won the 2011 Transitions Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla., carded seven birdies in Thursday’s opening round and was in second place with 14 points, one behind Josh Teater’s 15 points in the 132-golfer field. On Friday, the 2007 KU grad from Topeka, Kan., had five birdies and three bogeys to score seven points, giving him 21 through two rounds.
Woodland took control of the event when he chipped in from a greenside bunker for an eagle on the second hole of his third round. He went on to score 16 points in Saturday’s round which included six birdies and one bogey. His 37-point three-round total was seven ahead of Brandon Steele’s 30 points heading into Sunday’s final round.
On Sunday, Woodland increased his lead on the field by recording four birdies and no bogeys until the 17th hole, amassing seven points in his final round. Included was a 58-foot chip from the rough for birdie and he got up-and-down to save par five times.
In addition to winning the $540,000 first-place purse, Woodland automatically qualified for the upcoming PGA Championship, Aug. 8-11, at Oak Hill Country Club – East Course in Rochester, N.Y.
Woodland entered the Reno-Tahoe Open 116th with 382 points in the FedEx Season standings. With his victory, he now has 682 points and should rank in the top 60.
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