Pettit Clinches First Win As A Pro, Takes Title At Purdue

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Category: Inside Golf

Published: 2021-08-02

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana — It was exactly two months ago, on May 31, that Turk Pettit won his last event as an amateur, the 2021 NCAA Championship in Arizona. On Saturday, in only the third professional event of his career, Pettit, was able to stay composed and push past the competition, shooting a 5-under 67 to win by one stroke over Joseph Harrison and claim the Birck Boilermaker Classic title with a final score of 15-under 273. With his victory, Pettit vaulted to the top of the Points List, with 579 points, 19 ahead of last week’s leader, Mac Meissner.

“That win definitely helped prepare me for winning as a professional,” Pettit said. “(The 2021 NCAA Championship) was the first time I had won in nearly three years. I mean I was playing good. I just could never pull the trigger. Whenever I would finish strong, I’d lose by one or two. Winning is winning, regardless. There are nerves of course, always, but the more you are there, the more you are able to manage it.”

And manage it he did. With his dad on the bag, Pettit showed no nervousness as he came down the stretch. Up until No. 16, he thought he might just walk away with the win. Pettit had just made his fifth birdie of the day and was up by three shots on Harrison, who had watched his third-round, three-shot lead crumble with a double bogey on the par-5 No. 10 and then another bogey on the par-3 13th.

“I wasn’t even nervous,” Pettit admitted. “I thought I was putting the pressure on him. I went first on the second shot and hit it up there within two feet and then he cans it. I mean, that got him back in it.”

Harrison’s chip-in eagle on No. 16 turned the tide a bit for those last couple holes. Pettit sunk the birdie, but now Harrison was back within one. On the par-3 No. 17, both Pettit and Harrison had good looks for birdie, but they each missed. So it came down to 18, where the 32-year-old Harrison clearly had the advantage, hitting his second shot about 10 feet closer to the pin than Pettit, Harrison needing a make and a Pettit miss to go to a playoff.

Pettit putted first, bringing his 20-foot putt within inches. Harrison missed his 10-footer, and game, set, match as Pettit walked away with the win and Harrison finishing his round with a 71, alone in second place with a four-day total of 14-under 274.

“I’m not disappointed with how I started the round or finished the round. Things just didn’t go my way in the middle. A couple mental errors, and I didn’t make enough putts coming down the stretch. But, it was a good week, good tournament and Turk played solid, so hat’s off to him to get it done,” Harrison said.

“I kind of felt like I deserved that (eagle) on No. 16, because I hit a really good second shot,” he added. “It took a bit of a hop, and I kind of got lucky with the pin in there, so that was good. I put some pressure on him. And then I hit a good one on 17 to put it within 15 feet. But, again, if you don’t make your putts, it’s hard to come from behind.”

There were plenty of players who also made impressive runs Saturday only to fall short in the end. Both Brian Carlson and Tee-K Kelly, a pair of Big Ten golfers familiar with the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex — Carlson a Purdue alum and Kelly an Ohio State product — shot their low scores of the week in the fourth round, recording 7-under 65s to bring them up from 25th place and within striking distance. They joined Zach Cabra and Charles Huntzinger in a four-way tie for third, at 12-under.

The Forme Tour takes two weeks off and then is back at it in Southern Indiana at The Fuzzy Zoeller Classic at Covered Bridge Golf Club in Sellersburg, Aug. 10-13.

Did you know prior to Turk Pettit’s NCAA Championship individual title three months ago, his last victory was at the 2018 Irish Creek Collegiate in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Pettit cruised to a three-shot win over Jake Brown of Evangel University in that event.

Key Information
Points List Standings
Through Birck Boilermaker Classic

Eight players posted under-par scores in all four rounds this week: Turk Pettit (won), Joseph Harrison (second), Tee-K Kelly (tied for third), Zach Cabra (tied for third), Charles Huntzinger (tied for third), Matt McCarty (tied for 10th), Jeffrey Kang (tied for 10th) and Jacob Poore (tied for 21st).

Turk Pettit moved from 30th to first on the Points List with his win, while Joseph Harrison also had a major jump, going from 79th to seventh with his runner-up finish. With those two entering the top 10, dropping outside the top 10 were Justin Doeden and Alex Smalley. Doeden fell from ninth to 12th, while Smalley dropped from 10th to 11th.

In only three appearances (he didn’t play in the inaugural Forme Tour event in Georgia and received a sponsor’s exemption to play in Auburn), Turk Pettit is doing quite nicely for himself. With his tie for 11th in Auburn, Pettit automatically earned an invite to the next tournament, the Bolingbrook Invitational. This week he won, capping a nice, three-tournament run for the Auburn, Alabama, native who played his college golf at Clemson.

The low round of the day belonged to Billy Tom Sargent, with an 8-under 64. A day after he made consecutive eagles — on the par-5 sixth and the par-4 seventh — Sargent got things going early, playing the back nine first. He birdied Nos. 10, 11, 12 and 13 and added two more birdies to turn in 6-under 30. Had made it to 9-under for the day with birdies on No. 1, No. 5 and No. 7 before settling for the 64 after he bogeyed his closing hole. Sargent tied for 10th.

After playing last week on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica, finishing his season at the Bupa Open presented by Volvo, Camilo Aguado had a solid return to the Forme Tour, shooting four par-or-better rounds, including an 8-under 69-67 finish to tie for seventh with Sean Walsh and Mason Overstreet. Aguado is 34th on the Points List after two appearances.

Canada’s Joey Savoie has the highest position for players with less than three starts. In only two appearances, Savoie is ninth on the Points List following his runner-up showing a week ago and his tie for 39th in Indian. Savoie recovered nicely from middle rounds of 74-76 to shoot a Saturday 69.

The parity is showing this year, as no player has more than two top-10s. Eleven players have finished inside the top 10, Charles Huntzinger (tied for third), Brian Carlson (tied for third) and Matt McCarty (tied for 10th) joining the group this week.

Of the players who have played in all four Forme Tour events this season, 10 have made every cut: Jonathan Brightwell, J.J. Grey, Wil Bateman, Kyle Westmoreland, Mac Meissner, Brian Carlson, James Allenby, Bryson Nimmer, Trevor Werbylo and Charles Huntzinger.

After missing the cut in the first two Forme Tour tournaments, Dylan Meyer tied for sixth last week in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and then tied for 13th this week. Even though he missed the cut in Auburn, he had two under-par rounds (70-70), finishing at 4-under. Counting his play in Auburn, Meyer has eight under-par rounds and two even-par rounds since that missed cut. Meyer’s stroke average in that stretch is 69.4, and he is 22nd on the Points List as the Tour reached its halfway point.

Quotable

“I absolutely love this golf course. I played it a ton in college. I’ve always thought it was one of the elite championship golf courses we have in the Midwest.” –Tee-K Kelly

“I just kind of knew my game was revving up all week. It was a little sloppy, the first round, but I felt like I was still playing well. I texted my coach [Friday] night saying I could feel a low one coming. I just had a couple putts to go early on the front nine and it took the lid off the round for me, and I just tried to capitalize on that.” – Tee-K Kelly on shooting his low score, 65, in the final round.

“I got off to a slow start on the first five holes then made a 30-foot putt on No. 5 for par. After that I made birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie. Got things rolling. Cole (Bradley), a teammate of mine, was on the bag for me today, and Joe (Weiler), another teammate, was a caddie for another player, so it felt pretty comfortable out there. Got the putter hot and that’s what you have to do. – Brian Carlson

“Today felt good. Coming here and not going low the first three days, I was kind of like, Uggh, this is my home course. So, it feels nice to get a good round in. I mean I played good [Friday], but I finished off poorly, so it was definitely nice to finish the way I did.” –Brian Carlson on shooting a 65 in his final round.

“Today it was much needed. The first three days I played decent but had a lot of mistakes. Then today I just came out here and fired at pins. I hit the ball really well and putted well. Just a pretty good day.” –Billy Tom Sargent on shooting the low score of the day, an 8-under 64.

“I was kind of having trouble with the driver this week, as well as the putter. But, I got my driver figured out on the range and then switched putters today and putted a lot better. I’ll probably be sticking with this putter for a little while now.” – Billy Tom Sargent on what changed from his first three rounds (70- 71-73) to this one.

“You know all week I hit the ball really well. I made a lot of birdies this week. I just also made some really dumb bogeys — some three-putts. I really just couldn’t get a round going. But, I kept it together. Today I started off with a little struggle then got a few good up and downs with some tough shots and made a few putts and that just got it going.” – Zach Cabra on shooting a 66 today after his first three days of 70-70-70.

Final-Round Weather

Partly sunny and cooler. High of 77. Wind WSW at 3-7 mph.

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