FINAL ROUND CANCELLED BECAUSE OF HIGH WINDS

• Putnam earns first career win as a pro 

   at three-round WNB Golf Classic

  • April 27, 2014
    By Joe Chemycz, PGATOUR.COM
• Andrew Putnam picked up his first win at the WNB Golf Classic. 
• Picture by courtesy of Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

FROM THE WEB.COM TOUR WEBSITE
MORE: Winner's bag: Putnam | Scores | INTERVIEW: Putnam | Tournament director on wind

MIDLAND, Texas – Andrew Putnam earned his first professional win Sunday when high winds in West Texas forced the cancellation of the final round of the WNB Golf Classic. Putnam had completed only seven holes at Midland Country Club when play was halted at shortly after noon but was leading by eight shots at the time.
The 25-year-old second-year pro from Washington had distanced himself from the field with an 8-under 64 in Saturday’s third round and held a seven-stroke lead when the day began.
The forecast called for high winds and blowing dust, nothing new to the residents of the Permian Basin, and the weatherman hit it exactly right. Tee times were pushed up in hopes of getting the round completed but Mother Nature had other plans.
Officials called the round off at 4:30 p.m. and the standings reverted back to 54 holes, where Putnam held a nearly insurmountable lead.
“Seven shots was a big margin and I was playing well but you never really know how it’s going to work out,” said Putnam. “I had some nervous feelings not knowing if I was going to out and play. It’s a bummer that we couldn’t play it all the way out. I’m sure it would have been a different feeling walking up 18 with a big lead. I can’t remember the last time I won.”
Instead of a victory walk, Putnam was in the clubhouse watching golf on television when he was declared the winner.
“I was hoping I would be done around two,” chuckled Putnam, who was 1-under through 7 holes when play was stopped. “I couldn’t have improved my position. I knew I couldn’t do any better than where I was. You can get a couple over and things could change. You know you can’t ever sit back and relax.”
He might be able to relax now. The abbreviated victory was worth $108,000, which moved him to from No. 6 to No. 2 on the money list through one-third of the regular season. With $248,273 in the bank to this point, Putnam is assured of a spot on the PGA TOUR in 2015, where he will join older brother Michael, who was the No. 1 money winner on the Web.com Tour last year.
“It was always my goal to win early this year,” said Andrew the younger. “I saw my brother do it last year when he won twice. He was able to keep that confidence going. When you get off to a hot start it takes pressure off of you.”
Putnam got off to a hot start back in February when he finished solo second at the season-starting Pacific Rubiales Colombia Championship, which was also shortened to 54 holes because of thunderstorms.
“It’s funny because in Colombia I was on the eighth hole and was one stroke back when they stopped. I thought I had a good chance to win,” he said. “I started playing some of my best golf and the confidence has carried over.”
Veterans Richard S. Johnson and Rod Pampling wound up tied for second place at 13-under par while Tom Gillis and Mathew Goggin shared fourth place at 12-under.
“We stopped when it was gusting to 40 and right now it’s gusting to 58,” said Web.com Tour Tournament Director Orlando Pope. “Our time to get back out was about 5:20 but the wind isn’t supposed to drop back to 40 until 8 tonight. It’s unfortunate. We knew the wind was coming and we were hoping to beat the wind but we couldn’t do it.”

Sunday Notes:
• Sunday weather: Mostly sunny and windy. Wind WNW 10-20 mph in the early morning and then W 15-25 mph after 10 am. Winds approached 25-35 mph with gusts of 40-50 mph after 1 pm. Daytime high of 80.
• The fourth round was suspended at 12:06 pm due to sustained winds of 28 mph and gusts to 43 mph.
• Here’s what the leaderboard looked like when play was halted:

1. Andrew Putnam	-21	-1	thru 7
2. Richard S. Johnson	-13	E	thru 7
3. Tom Gillis     Rod Pampling	-12 -12	E +1	thru 9 thru 7
5. Harold Varner III	-11	E	thru 9
6. Carlos Ortiz     Jin Park	-10 -10	E +1	thru 11 thru 9

• Only one group (3 players out of 77) had completed their round when play was called.
• Several players had solid rounds underway when play was halted. Three in particular had made substantial moves up the leaderboard, only to be wiped out when the tournament standings reverted back to 54 holes:

Player	Started	Round 4	Standing when play was halted
Michael Kim	T31	-3 thru 16	T8 - up 23 spots
Carlos Franco	T51	-4 thru 12*	T15 - up 36 spots
Alex Cejka	T70	-6 through 10*	T22 - up 48 spots

• Sunday’s play was in threesomes off the 1st and 10th tees. Times ran from 7:30-9:30 a.m.
• The tournament’s 72-hole record 24-under 264 was set by Chad Campbell in 2001 at the Club at Mission Dorado.
• The last time a Web.com Tour event was suspended due to high winds was the 2011 Soboba Golf Classic in San Jacinto, Calif. The first round was halted on Thursday Sept. 22 at 1:55 p.m. because of high winds that reached 50 mph. The delay lasted 2:05. Ted Potter, Jr. was the eventual winner.
The second round of the 2000 Tri-Cities Open in Richland, Wash., was also delayed for almost three hours due to high winds. Darron Stiles went on to win that year.
• This is the first time in Tour history that a tournament has been shortened due to windy conditions.
• This is the second tournament this year to have the final round canceled and shortened to 54 holes because of weather – the season-opening Pacific Rubiables Colombia Championship in Bogota had the final round cancelled due to thunderstorms (Alex Cejka, winner).

Dornoch exile Jimmy Gunn finished T41 on 211 with rounds of 72, 68 and 71.

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