Having to reschedule a major championship isn’t usually met
with a lot of positive reactions. It’s another day off work for the players,
another day for the host course to be closed for play, and another day to wedge
in the already full summer schedule for the IGA-PGA staff. But for this year’s
Indiana PGA Southern Open Championship presented by TaylorMade, rescheduling
the championship allowed amateur Tyler Duncan a chance to compete, and he
certainly made the most of it. Duncan fired a 4-under-par 68 to win by two
shots over Adam Marshall, Brad Mays, Brett Melton, Lee Crannell (a), and Matt Holda, as well as the rest of the field of 150.
Originally, the Southern Open was scheduled for May 2nd,
but the torrential downpours that characterized the months of April and May
left Covered Bridge Golf Club (and most courses in Indiana) in unplayable shape
that day. April and May also meant the NCAA tournament for Duncan, a member of
Purdue’s golf team. His team’s performance throughout the 2010-11 season took
them to Regionals in Tucson, Arizona, and initially kept him from registering
for the Southern. However, despite a stellar even-par performance at Tucson
National GC and a T23rd finish overall, he nor his team advanced to Nationals,
which allowed him to register for the rescheduled Southern Open May 31st
in place of a player who couldn’t compete on the new date.
Everything just seemed to fall into place. “I just had one
of my best ball striking days in a while,” said Duncan. “I didn’t really ever
get the putter rolling, but I made some when I needed to.” Solid play allowed
him to make four birdies and no bogeys in the mid-90 degree heat that only got
hotter as the day progressed. “I kind of thought I had an advantage playing in
the morning wave today,” he said.
Duncan’s surely not complaining about any weather
conditions. It’s unpleasant weather that got him in the field in the first
place.
See complete results here.