JUPITER, Fla (Jan. 12, 2009) -- Duke Delcher canned a 6-foot birdie putt on the final hole to give him and partner Carlton Forrester a dramatic, one-stroke victory Monday in the 75th Southern International Four-Ball on the Old Trail Fazio Course at Jonathan’s Landing.
Delcher’s birdie gave his team a 54-hole final better-ball total of 26-under-par 190 and avoided a playoff against second-round leaders Paul Couture and Mike Weeks in the featured Mid-Am division. The two teams, in the final pairing, failed to fire on the front nine, then reeled off a pack of birdies to pull away from the field, both teams shooting 7-under-par 29 on the closing nine.
After Forrester, an Atlanta investment banker, birdied the difficult ninth hole for a two-shot swing and the lead.
Delcher, a Bluffton SC businessman, sank birdie putts of 10 to 20 feet on the next five holes to open a three-stroke lead. But Couture and Weeks countered with an eagle and four birdies over the closing five holes to catch up and set the stage for Delcher’s winning putt.
Delcher is a past winner of this event and has regularly contended for the title with various partners before teaming with Forrester for this year’s victory.
He is also a former Walker Cupper and one of the founders of The Player's Amateur, an amateur major held every July in South Carolina. Forrester is a former U.S. Mid-Am runner-up.
In the Senior division, Randy Nichols of Brookville, Ind., sank an 8-foot birdie on the third playoff hole to give him and partner Skip Runnels of Richmond, Ind., the crown over Larry Clark and Norm Swenson.
The venerable Southern International Four-Ball tournament is played under the auspices of the Southern Golf Association.
--Courtesy SGA
Southern International 4-Ball: Delcher, Forrester win by one
Duke Delcher's final-hole birdie caps comeback with teammate Carlton Forrester