Phillips emerges as Southern Tour champ, with a little help

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 8, 2014 1:50 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Terry Phillips, Matt McCaslin and Jeff Spainhour wanted to go the distance.

Mother Nature had other ideas, instead.

A steady, heavy downpour rendered conditions unplayable and washed out the final two-plus rounds of the 2014 Southern Tour Championship contested at the All-Star Putt-Putt Fun Center on Sunday afternoon.

And Phillips benefited the most.

The Charlotte-area resident emerged as the Southern Tour champion in the Pro Division with a 32-under par 112 -- four strokes better than Spainhour and reigning national champion Matt McCaslin of Holly Springs. It was Phillips' first title in nearly three decades.

Danny McCaslin took fourth, followed by 19-time major champion and Hall of Famer Greg Ward. Pre-tournament favorite Greg Newport, who was named the Tour's Pro Player-of-the-Year, finished tied among a pack of golfers for sixth.

Ben Blake and Todd Trent shared the Amateur Division STP title.

"This is the first time I can remember that we had one shortened like this, which is pretty unusual. That's the rub of the green," Phillips said. "I would have loved for it to have gone all six rounds. The fifth round ... Matt was playing very, very good and he had the lead.

"It was tight and everybody played fairly well the fourth round. It was a lot of fun out there when we were playing together because everybody was playing so well, you kind of feed off that."

Phillips aced eight of the first nine holes and finished with an 11-under 25 in fourth-round play. He trailed Spainhour by one stroke. McCaslin was down by two.

As a light rain began to fall, McCaslin caught fire with a flurry of aces and built a three-shot advantage in the fifth round. Phillips had started to fade, while Spainhour continued his steady performance. The trio was close to finishing on the back nine when lightning suspended play for nearly an hour.

Rain puddles surfaced on different greens and flooded on two holes. Putt-Putt center workers and golfers attempted to remove the water with a blower and broom, but to no avail.

Tournament officials cancelled the remaining rounds.

"Starting off the 4th round we were all on fire. On the front nine if you look at our scorecards, there were aces all over the place," McCaslin said. "We were all three playing really good. I started coming back in the fifth round and the weather just stopped us, didn't get to finish up.

"I wish they had waited a little bit longer."

McCaslin, Phillips, Spainhour and most of the Tour field return to action in early October at the 55th annual Professional Putters Association National Championship in Lake Charles, La.

"(I've) got a chance to maybe repeat and that would be really good (but) it's going to be tough," McCaslin said. "There are a lot of good players out there who will be playing in this event."

A 40-year-old course, the Putt-Putt Center -- constructed by the late Lloyd C. Collier -- hosted a Tour event for the first time in 14 years. Considered a time-treasured layout, the players competed on Course 1 which included numerous challenging holes.

The Goldsboro Open and Collier Memorial were contested Saturday, but results were not available.