Crockett, Smith win Champions Cup Inv.

HOUSTON, Texas (April 21, 2013) -- Dan Crockett and Parker Smith play golf together to have fun, but whatever their recipe for success is, it definitely worked in their favor at the Champions Cup Invitational. "Any time P.J. and I can get together and play golf, we enjoy ourselves. We're not playing this for a living, we do it for fun," Crockett told the Houston Chronicle after the victory. And what isn't fun about posting 10-under-par 61 on a windy second round day when the next best score is a 68, and your partner (Smith) makes 8 birdies? At the halfway point of the 72 hole event they had a 7-shot lead and despite a third round 63 by the venerable Nevada duo of Kevin Marsh and Brady Exber -- who have had their name on the Champions Cup trophy for three of the past four years -- Crockett and Smith kept their 7 stroke cushion heading into the final round by posting a 65 of their own. Crockett, 44, from Nashville, Tenn., and Smith, 36, from Morristown, Tenn., flirted with the record, and put the tournament out of reach from Marsh and Exber (or anyone else) as they got to 22 under through 12 holes Sunday. The only thing left to determine was if Crockett and Smith would break or match the tournament record of 25-under, and while that didn't happen (they ended up at 21-under - not bad at Champions Golf Club, which is a serious test of golf) the victory was what they cared about. "The record didn't mean a lot to me as much as winning does," said Smith to the Chronicle's Richard Dean. An amazing thing about this team is that while Smith excelled at college golf at LSU in the late 90's, Crockett played football and baseball and didn't take up golf until he turned 23. Now, the pair can add a Champions Cup title to their back-to-back wins at the Anderson Memorial Four Ball at Winged Foot (one of the most elite amateur four balls in the world) and aim for a title defense there later this season.