Final Round Recap
September 7, 2020 by Bennett Wineka in Recap with 0 comments
It was an ideal day in Vermont to decide a tournament, and the Green Mountain Championship was open for the taking for much of the final round on Fox Run Meadows.
- Coming into the day with a six stroke cushion, the GMC was Kevin Jones’s to lose. With a 1058-rated 7-under par final round, Jones did everthing he needed to, and held off a looming Paul McBeth, never letting the lead drop below three strokes, and finishing four strokes clear of second place at 37-under par total. He averaged 1068-rated golf over four rounds to win his second career Elite Series event.
- Jones showed some signs of vulnerability on hole 5 when he admittedly “shanked” his drive and gave up his second stroke to McBeth in as many holes. Things could have ballooned on the par 5 hole 7 after Jones found OB on his drive, but McBeth and the rest of the lead card also struggled to get down the fairway without penalty. Jones would go bogey-free for the final 11 holes, although McBeth would again bring it within three strokes with three holes to play before bogeying hole 16.
- Jones finished third in Circle 1X putting, Circle 1 in regulation, and parked percentage. He was second in C2 putting despite not hitting one the final two rounds, and fifth in finding C2 in regulation.
- McBeth’s 9-under, two bogey round was enough to give him second place overall at 33-under par total, but not enough to catch Jones. He did not miss from inside the circle, and added a 70+ footer looking at OB on hole 8 for birdie. McBeth has three second place and one third place finishes at DGPT events in 2020 to one victory.
- Having never played on a lead/feature card after round 1, former multiple-time GMC champ Ricky Wysocki used an 8-under par to get solo third at 30-under par total for his third podium finish at DGPT events this year.
- USDGC qualifiers from GMC were: Dan Brooks-Wells (T-9th), Tim Barham (T-9th), Andrew Fish (12th), Dustin Keegan (16th), and Erza Aderhold (T-17th).
Heard
“I told myself I wasn’t going to look at the scores until hole 16, no matter what. [Hole 5] didn’t make me look at the scores. I knew I lost a little chunk there but that hole is really hard. It was just really important for me to not lose any strokes on the meat of the course.” – Kevin Jones, on managing nerves and his game plan for the final round.
Statline
Before this weekend, the highest Jones had finished in C1X putting for a full-field event since the start of the 2019 season was a 9th place showing at the 2019 Portland Open. He was 30-for-32 at Portland for a 94% C1X rate over three rounds. In Vermont, he was 34-for-37 for a 92% rate.
Coverage
2020 GMC | FINALF9 | McBeth, McMahon, Heimburg, Jones | Jomez Disc Golf
