ENDICOTT (New York), July 18: Second-year PGA player Jason Bohn birdied the penultimate hole to take a one-stroke victory on Sunday at the B.C. Open, winning his first US tour title and playing rights for two years. While golf’s greatest were concluding the British Open, the 32-year-old American fired a bogey-free final round six-under par 66 to finish at a tournament record 24-under par 264 at the three million-dollar event.
The old tournament record was 22-under 266 set by American Jeff Sluman and Australia’s Paul Gow in 2001.
Bohn’s seven-foot birdie putt at the 17th and a par on the 18th hole left him one stroke ahead of Aussie Brendan Jones, the 54-hole leader, and fellow Americans Ryan Palmer, J.P. Hayes and John Rollins.
This was the seventh time in 11 years the event was decided by one stroke and Bohn credited his playing partner and practice pal Palmer with helping inspire his best performance.
Bohn, whose best prior finish was a share of sixth at last year’s Buick Championship, collected a $540,000 top prize as well as the exemption through the end of the 2005 US PGA season.
Leading final round scores :
264 — Jason Bohn 64, 68, 66, 66.
265 — J.P. Hayes 67, 68, 64, 66; John Rollins 67, 68, 64, 66; Ryan Palmer 67, 64, 67, 67; Brendan Jones (Australia) 67, 64, 66, 68.
266 — Ben Crane 64, 69, 69, 64; Michael Allen 72, 67, 63, 64; Mathias Groenberg (Sweden) 65, 67, 68, 66.