Perry Dotson of The Players Club rallied during the final round of the Indiana PGA Senior Championship to move up from 7th place to champion. Shooting his personal competitive best, a second day 4-under-par 68, was strong enough to jump him to the top of the leader board and earn him his first professional title. “This is very exciting and very fun,” said Dotson. “It’s something to build on. Lots of positive thoughts right now.”
The start of Dotson’s round did not look promising. He missed a 5-foot putt on the second green and blew a putt six feet by on 3. “I was tentative,” he said. “Then I knocked it to one foot on 4 and that made all the difference in the world.” His confidence came back and he made four consecutive birdies. He made the turn at 2-under for the tournament, but Quinn Griffing still held the lead at 3-under. Dotson managed two more birdies before heading to the club house to await Griffing’s finish. After 16 Griffing was 4-under, but lost a stroke at 17. At the 18th his approach went over the green into a swail, leaving him a tough uphill chip with hardly any green to work with. He was unable to convert the 8-foot putt coming back to force a playoff, and the victory went to Dotson.
Dotson has been in the golf business since 1987, but became a PGA Member only last June. Because of his new status as a Member, he’s still learning the ropes of qualifying for national events. He only registered for the Section event and was ineligible to qualify for the National Senior Professional Championship. Therefore, the first spot went to runner-up Griffing who carded 69-73-142. The other three spots went to Eric Johnson, Todd Sandow and Scott Morris. But Dotson looks very forward to next year and attempting to qualify for his first national PGA event.
See complete results here.