SIOUX FALLS, SD (August 21, 2005) -- Michael Martin of Brookings defeated Chris Collins of Lead on the first hole of a playoff to win the SDGA Stroke Play Championship on Sunday afternoon at Prairie Green Golf Course in Sioux Falls.
Martin, who will be a senior at Belmont University in Nashville, parred the extra hole after both he and Collins had finished the regulation 54 holes at 8-under 208. Martin's two-putt par brought to a close a Championship that saw as many as six players vying for the title at different times during the afternoon. Collins, bidding to become the first player since Paul Schock in 2002 to win both the Stroke Play and Match Play Championships in the same year, hit his approach on the playoff hole into a greenside bunker. When he failed to get up-and-down, Martin was left with only a tap-in to secure his first SDGA Championship.
Martin fired a final-round 66, overcoming a four-stroke deficit starting the day. He birdied his first three holes and four of the first five to draw even with second-round leaders Ryan Jansa and Adam Wynia, both of Sioux Falls. A bogey on the par-3 seventh slowed his momentum, but Martin, playing three groups ahead of Jansa and Wynia, got to 7-under with a birdie on the 580-yard 12th. Martin reached 8-under after he birdied the par-4 16th. After two pars to close out his round, he had to sit back and wait for the others.
Collins, who will be a sophomore at Washington State, fired a final-round 67. Starting the day at 3-under and three shots back, Collins quickly got to six under with birdies on 2, 3 and 4. He gave shots back on the 565-yard sixth and the par-4 10th, before rattling off four consecutive birdies (Nos. 13-16) to reach 8-under. When he parred in, he joined Martin in waiting to see what would happen.
Jansa, the second-round leader who was bidding for a third straight title (and seventh overall), made three straight birdies, starting with No. 14 to reach 8-under. Still at that number when he got to the final tee, Jansa's hopes vanished when his tee shot sailed right into a hazard. After taking a drop, Jansa's third shot on the 458-yard hole sailed left out of bounds, ending his flickering hopes. His 73 left him in a tie for third with Wynia at 211.
Wynia at one-time was also at 8-under, but bogeys on the 15th and 16th holes, followed by a double-bogey on the 200-yard 17th derailed his chances for a first title. Wynia reached 8-under after birdieing the 12th and sinking a short putt on the 382-yard 14th.
Mark Anderson of Sioux Falls, the 2004 Match Play Championship who will be a senior at New Mexico, finished sixth at 212 along with Brett Egge of Sioux Falls. Egge teamed with Robb Bierbaum of Sioux Falls to win the Two-Man Championship in June at Westward Ho Country Club in Sioux Falls.
Six players tied for seventh. James Green of Madison, who matched Martin's 66 as the day's best round, was joined there by Steve Pelzl and Jonathon Murdy of Aberdeen, Jesse Blom and Danny Sinksen of Sioux Falls, and Scott O'Brien of Brookings.
Flight winners were: Green, first flight; Robert O'Keefe, Sioux Falls, second flight (228); Eric Smith, Sioux Falls, third flight (238); and Scott Lockwood, Sioux Falls, fourth flight (245).
ABOUT THE South Dakota Amateur
54 hole flighted stroke play championship. Must
have
an active GHIN at a South Dakota Golf Association
member club.
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