Article content continued

Heading into Sunday’s final round at Beach Grove, Flockhart was four-shots up on Jamie Martinello, had a five-shot lead on Tyler Pope-Ferguson and a seven-shot lead on defending champion Pete vanWezel, who were the only other golfers to break par on the first day.

“I thought I was going to be in the mix,” the 25-year-old Pope-Ferguson said after seeing his first round score. “That’s really good playing by him. I knew I had to hit something low (on Sunday). Five shots is a lot to make up in one day.”

Playing with Pope-Ferguson and Martinello, Flockhart birdied his first hole on Sunday and kept the pressure on the field.

“That guy doesn’t make mistakes,” said the 37-year-old Martinello, who shot three-over par 75 and finished fifth overall at one-under 143. “You start pressing a little bit and trying to do things you wouldn’t normally do to try and put some pressure on the guy, but he’s just a good player. You make a mistake and you’re behind and chasing and it’s a long day after that, but happy with what I was doing.”

Pope-Ferguson shot back-to-back rounds of three-under par 69, but could not close the gap on Flockhart and finished four shots behind with a six-under par total of 138.

“Four (shots) was the closest I got,” Pope-Ferguson said. “I tried to force a couple there on the back nine, but four shots was too many to make up on the back nine.

“I played well, I can’t be upset with how I played. I was 69, 69 for two days and six under and normally that’s right around the lead for this tournament and he shot 10 (under). It’s just one of those years. He just played really well.”