Vegas Cashes In at the Bob Hope Desert Classic

The Bob Hope Classic was a fitting place for a start to be born.
Jhonattan Vegas did it with a little Hollywood flair, hitting his tee shot into the water on the second playoff hole before sinking a 13-foot putt for par to turn back Gary Woodland
on the Palmer Private Course at PGA West in La Quinta and become the first Venezuelan to win on the PGA Tour.
“I think it means everything for me right now,” said Vegas, a 2008 graduate of the University of Texas. “Just to think about winning on the PGA Tour, that’s something. But just to make it happen is something else. And it’s a crazy feeling.
“And to my country, I hope this means a lot. I really hope it means change. I hope it means people changing (their minds) about the sport. And some people get a little different idea of the sport.”
That was a message for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has criticized golf and closed six courses in the last seven years.
The 26-year-old Vegas, who captured the 2010 Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open on the Nationwide Tour, posted a score of 64-67-67-66-69–333 and claimed the winner’s check of $900,000 in what is the last 90-hole event on the PGA Tour.
Woodland, also 26, of Orlando, Fla., shot 65-69-64-66-69–333, while defending champion Bill Haas of Greenville, S.C., who dropped out with a par on the first playoff hole when Vegas and Woodland made birdies, finished at 69-68-68-62-66–333.
“We were grinding all day,” said Woodland, who played basketball at Kansas. “Jhonattan got off to a pretty good start and I was just trying to catch him all day. So the playoff was no different. Just all of a sudden it was sudden death.
“Unfortunately I came out of a shot on the second playoff hole and hit a bad bunker shot. But credit to him; he made a great four there. It was pretty cool.”
Said Haas, whose father, Jay, won the 1988 Hope: “I won’t hang my head too much. I hit a bad drive on 18 (in the playoff). I was a little jacked up, got a little ahead of it. It just didn’t work out. I didn’t execute in crunch time.”
Kevin Na of Rancho Cucamonga tied for fifth at 69-67-68-65-67–336, Daniel Summerhays of Farmington, Utah and BYU tied for 11th at 69-66-68-64-71–338,
Bill Lunde of San Diego and UNLV tied for 13th at 74-64-67-68-66–339, Dean Wilson of BYU and Kaneohe, Hawaii, tied for 22nd at 69-68-67-66-70–340, and Zack Miller of San Rafael and Stanford tied for 25th at 74-66-68-69-64–341.
Jason Gore of Valencia and Pepperdine totaled 70-68-65-70-69–342 and tied for 29th with Matt Jones of Arizona State and Australia, who wound up at 67-71-66-70-68–342.
Matt Bettencourt of Alameda and Modesto Junior College shot 69-74-66-68-67–344 and tied for 42nd with Paul Goydos of Coto de Caza and Long Beach State, who finished at 68-72-67-66-71–344, and Kevin Sutherland of Sacramento and Fresno State, who came in at 68-69-68-68-71–344.
Kevin Chappell of Clovis and UCLA carded a score of 68-69-68-69-71–345 and tied for 48th with Peter Tomasulo of Long Beach and Cal, who finished at 66-68-71-68-72– 345, and Spencer Levin of Elk Grove and New Mexico, who wound up at 69-74-70-65- 67–345.
Brandt Jobe of UCLA and Soutlake, Texas, shot 68-69-71-66-72–346 and tied for 54th with Pat Perez of San Diego and Arizona State, who finished at 69-69-68-71-69–346, while Kevin Stadler of San Diego and USC tied for 61st at 72-68-66-66-75–347.
Michael Putnam of Pepperdine and University Park, Wash., totaled 69-68-71-69-72–349 and tied for 68th with Cameron Tringale of Laguna Nigel and Georgia Tech, who wound up at 67-67-71-70-74–349, and Scott McCarron of Sacramento and UCLA finished 71st at 70-70-66-66-78–350.
Woodland had the advantage on the first playoff hole when he split the fairway with his drive after Vegas pulled his into the water. But the situation flipped when Woodland hit his approach into a difficult lie in a greenside bunker and Vegas stuck his on the green.
After Woodland blasted his sand shot across the green to the fringe and missed a 20-foot, Vegas holed his putt to become the first rookie champion in the 52-year history of the Hope.
“I thought I put a good swing, I just pulled it a little bit; the ball went in the water,” said Vegas, who captured the 2010 Argentina Open. “But as I was walking into the fairway, I just kept thinking that I still had a chance to hit it on the green and make a putt for par. I knew how hard it is to just close it out.
“And Gary, he pretty much was almost in the same position that I am, that we are young guys here, so I knew how tough it was going to be. So I kept fighting, kept telling myself that there’s still a chance and just was able to just talk to my caddie, put a good shot into the green, and I was able to make a great putt.”
Vegas led by two strokes at times in the final round, but missed a nine-foot putt for par on the final hole of regulation to drop into the playoff, before nearly winning on the first extra hole, where his eagle chip shot lipped out.
But Vegas was not done because he wanted to send a long-distance message to Chavez.
He made it a collect call.
By Tom LaMarre
par-72 PGA West Palmer Course (PP)
PGA West Nicklaus Private Course (NP)
La Quinta Country Club (LQ)
Silver Rock Resort (SR) in La Quinta, Calif
(Note: x-won playoff)
Final Scores
1. x-Jhonattan Vegas (PP) -27 …………………………………….. 64-67-67-66-69–333
1. Bill Haas (PP) -27 …………………………………………………… 69-68-68-62-66–333
1. Gary Woodland (PP) -27 ………………………………………… 65-69-64-66-69–333
4. Ryan Palmer (PP) -26 …………………………………………….. 67-71-65-67-64–334
5. Brian Gay (PP) -24 …………………………………………………. 69-69-66-70-62–336
5. Kevin Na (PP) -24 ………………………………………………….. 69-67-68-65-67–336
7. Chris Couch (PP) -23 ……………………………………………… 67-65-69-70-66–337
7. Matt Kuchar (PP) -23 …………………………………………….. 66-70-67-66-68–337
7. Keegan Bradley (PP) -23 ………………………………………… 66-67-68-66-70–337
7. Chris Kirk (PP) -23 …………………………………………………. 69-68-64-66-70–337
11. Greg Chalmers (PP) -22 ………………………………………… 67-67-65-69-70–338
11. Daniel Summerhays (PP) -22 …………………………………. 69-66-68-64-71–338
13. Bill Lunde (PP) -21 ……………………………………………….. 74-64-67-68-66–339
13. Derek Lamely (PP) -21 ………………………………………….. 63-73-72-64-67–339
13. Webb Simpson (PP) -21 ……………………………………….. 68-69-67-68-67–339
13. Justin Leonard (PP) -21 ………………………………………… 69-71-64-68-67–339
13. Alex Cejka (PP) -21 ……………………………………………… 69-67-67-68-68–339
13. Brian Davis (PP) -21 ……………………………………………… 67-66-71-68-67–339
13. Jerry Kelly (PP) -21 ………………………………………………. 67-68-67-68-69–339
13. Charles Howell III (PP) -21 …………………………………….. 66-66-70-67-70–339
13. Boo Weekley (PP) -21 ………………………………………….. 65-66-72-66-70–339
22. Michael Bradley (PP) -20 ………………………………………. 68-69-67-67-69–340
22. Dean Wilson (PP) -20 …………………………………………… 69-68-67-66-70–340
22. Martin Laird (PP) -20 ……………………………………………. 68-68-64-66-74–340
25. Vaughn Taylor (PP) -19 …………………………………………. 71-66-69-68-67–341
25. Brendon de Jonge (PP) -19 ……………………………………. 68-71-70-66-66–341
25. David Duval (PP) -19 …………………………………………….. 68-67-69-68-69–341
25. Zack Miller (PP) -19 ……………………………………………… 74-66-68-69-64–341
29. Matt Jones (PP) -18 …………………………………………….. 67-71-66-70-68–342
29. Jason Gore (PP) -18 …………………………………………….. 70-68-65-70-69–342
29. Kyle Stanley (PP) -18 ……………………………………………. 65-71-68-71-67–342
29. Shaun Micheel (PP) -18 ………………………………………… 66-72-68-65-71–342
33. Steve Elkington (PP) -17 ……………………………………….. 68-69-67-69-70–343
33. Mark Calcavecchia (PP) -17 ……………………………………. 69-69-69-68-68–343
33. Stephen Ames (PP) -17 ………………………………………… 69-68-68-68-70–343
33. David Toms (PP) -17 …………………………………………….. 70-73-66-66-68–343
33. Bryce Molder (PP) -17 ………………………………………….. 68-76-67-65-67–343
33. Kevin Streelman (PP) -17 ……………………………………… 69-67-70-70-67–343
33. Jason Dufner (PP) -17 ………………………………………….. 68-72-69-67-67–343
33. Ryuji Imada (PP) -17 …………………………………………….. 66-71-68-66-72–343
33. Fredrik Jacobson (PP) -17 ……………………………………… 65-70-70-72-66–343
42. Tim Petrovic (PP) -16 ……………………………………………. 67-69-69-69-70–344
42. Paul Goydos (PP) -16 …………………………………………… 68-72-67-66-71–344
42. Kris Blanks (PP) -16 ……………………………………………… 66-71-67-71-69–344
42. Kevin Sutherland (PP) -16 …………………………………….. 68-69-68-68-71–344
42. D.A. Points (PP) -16 ……………………………………………… 67-70-69-69-69–344
42. Matt Bettencourt (PP) -16 …………………………………….. 69-74-66-68-67–344
48. Blake Adams (PP) -15 …………………………………………… 70-69-69-66-71–345
48. Kevin Chappell (PP) -15 ………………………………………… 68-69-68-69-71–345
48. Peter Tomasulo (PP) -15 ………………………………………. 66-68-71-68-72–345
48. J.J. Henry (PP) -15 ……………………………………………….. 64-74-71-67-69–345
48. Spencer Levin (PP) -15 …………………………………………. 69-74-70-65-67–345
48. Chad Campbell (PP) -15 ………………………………………… 69-72-70-67-67–345
54. Brandt Jobe (PP) -14 ……………………………………………. 68-69-71-66-72–346
54. Harrison Frazar (PP) -14 ………………………………………… 68-68-68-70-72–346
54. Jeff Overton (PP) -14 …………………………………………… 69-65-67-72-73–346
54. Chad Collins (PP) -14 ……………………………………………. 66-72-70-68-70–346
54. Pat Perez (PP) -14 ……………………………………………….. 69-69-68-71-69–346
54. Colt Knost (PP) -14 ………………………………………………. 70-73-64-70-69–346
54. Jesper Parnevik (PP) -14 ………………………………………. 73-70-65-70-68–346
61. D.J. Trahan (PP) -13 ……………………………………………… 71-68-65-69-74–347
61. Kevin Stadler (PP) -13 ………………………………………….. 72-68-66-66-75–347
61. Mark Wilson (PP) -13 …………………………………………… 69-73-70-64-71–347
61. Kenny Perry (PP) -13 ……………………………………………. 67-69-71-69-71–347
61. Fabian Gomez (PP) -13 …………………………………………. 67-77-66-67-70–347
66. Steve Marino (PP) -12 ………………………………………….. 68-71-66-71-72–348
66. Jarrod Lyle (PP) -12 ……………………………………………… 70-72-68-68-70–348
68. Cameron Tringale (PP) -11 …………………………………….. 67-67-71-70-74–349
68. Chris Stroud (PP) -11 ……………………………………………. 70-68-73-66-72–349
68. Michael Putnam (PP) -11 ………………………………………. 69-68-71-69-72–349
71. Scott McCarron (PP) -10 ……………………………………….. 70-70-66-66-78–350
72. John Rollins (PP) -9 ……………………………………………… 74-71-65-66-75–351
72. Hunter Haas (PP) -9 …………………………………………….. 67-69-73-68-74–351