history -- with a 14-foot birdie on the first extra hole, the par-5 18th. Just before Guetz sank the winning putt, defending champion John Douma -- a fellow Scottsdale resident -- lipped out a birdie attempt of his own. Illinois golf coach and former national club pro champion Mike Small and Utah pro Boyd Summerhays made bogey and double bogey, respectively, in the playoff after going for the green in two and hitting their second shots into the hazard.
Guetz, winner of three tournaments on the Gateway tour and another on the Canadian circuit during his pro career, said he had “everything packed up” to leave after a pulled drive on No. 18 of regulation play resulted in a bogey and a one-shot deficit.
But it was just time for another rally. After all, Guetz had battled back to get into contention after being 6 over par through the first 28 holes of the tournament, so facing another hurdle was nothing he couldn’t overcome. And, after a Summerhays bogey on No. 18 in regulation forced a playoff, Guetz took advantage.
“It always means a great deal when you win,” he said. “You never take a win lightly. It’s huge.”
Douma, who was bidding to become the first back-to-back winner of the Colorado Open in more than 30 years, has now finished second, second, first and second in the last four Opens.
“This tournament has treated me very well,” said the former University of Colorado golfer.
The four playoff participants finished regulation play at 7-under-par 277, with the tournament going to sudden death only after Guetz and Summerhays made bogeys on the 18th hole of regulation. Summerhays, a former PGA Tour player, flew a wedge approach shot over the green and into a bunker, and failed to get up and down for the victory.
“I’m disappointed, real disappointed,” Summerhays said after playing the 18th hole in bogey and double bogey on Sunday.
Douma, meanwhile, had almost the same putt above the cup on the 18th hole in both regulation and the playoff, but couldn’t drain either.
“I hit 17 greens in regulation and I had a lot of (birdie) chances, but not many fell,” said Douma, who closed with a 69 and earned a check for $9,508. “But I was happy that I had a chance to win at 7 under (par). Brian made a great putt to win it.”
Drew Stoltz of Fort Collins finished fifth, one shot out of the playoff, after closing with a 64.
Earlier in the day, former CU golfer Jonathan Kaye, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, matched the course record with an 8-under-par 63.
Kaye finished 13th overall at 282 thanks to his final round, which included eight birdies and no bogeys. He drained putts of 60 and 30 feet, plus chipped one in. The course-record-tying score came after previous rounds of 73-72-74.
“I’d like to take some confidence out of this, but I probably have nowhere to go with it,” said Kaye, who is leaning toward not playing again on the PGA Tour until 2009 because of ongoing foot problems.
Grady, a CU senior from Broomfield, captured low-amateur honors in the tournament, with a final-round 69 leaving him in sixth place overall at 5-under-par 279.
Grady, who led the tournament after rounds 1 and 2, didn’t feel like he had much of a chance to capture the overall title on Sunday, but was left playing a game of “what-if” after missing three putts inside 5 feet and finishing two strokes out of the playoff.
“It’s good because I haven’t won anything (significant) all year,” he said. “Today I feel like I sort of won something.”
Ziegler, who went to the same Catholic elementary school in Broomfield as Grady, tied Derek Tolan for second place in the amateur competition.
During the awards presentation after the tournament, Pat Hamill received the Robert M. Kirchner Award, given to a person who has contributed significantly to golf in Colorado. Hamill, president of Oakwood Homes, was the primary driving force behind resurrecting the Colorado Open in 2004 after it was canceled in 2003 due to financial problems.
