Final round charge earns Caleb O'Toole Spirit of America title

Caleb O’Toole birdied eight holes in his final round, including three in a row on his inward nine, to overtake Sam Murphy to win the 2021 Daikin Spirit of America Golf Classic title Saturday at Burningtree Country Club in Decatur, Ala.

O’Toole, who played collegiately at Western Kentucky, shot a final round 65 and took advantage of Murphy’s struggles to win Burningtree Country Club’s long-running fundraising tournament held annually in conjunction with Decatur’s Spirit of America Festival.

Murphy, who began the day with a two-stroke lead at 6-under par, began his final round like he was going to runaway and hide from the field. The Louisiana Tech golfer birdied the first and fourth holes to move to 8-under but saw his lead evaporate after struggling over last five holes of his outward nine. He bogeyed the sixth hole and made a double bogey on the eighth after his tee shot went out of bounds. Murphy’s back nine didn’t start any better as he bogeyed the 10th hole.

With Murphy struggling, O’Toole was on a birdie brigade. Eight birdies led to a final round 65 and a two-stroke win over Murphy, who finished at 6-under par for the tournament. It was quite a turnaround for the Pinson, Ala. native, who opened the tournament with a 3-over 74 on Wednesday before playing his last three rounds at 11-under par, carding scores of 66-71-65.

Caleb O'Toole wins 2021 Daikin Spirit of America Golf Classic https://t.co/OPiDCQDE9l

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It’s not the first time a member of the O’Toole family has won the Spirit of America Golf Classic. Caleb caddied for his older brother Michael when he won the same tournament in 2014.

"I feel like I learned something from caddying,” he said. “You know I try to get something every time I’m at a golf course and I learned a lot from my brother caddying and I just pretty much implemented that to this. I knew if I played good around here, I had a chance to win and that’s what I did.”