It's been a while since Artie Fink and Todd Homan teamed up to win the Park Hills Classic.
And when Chris Perry and Mike Macionsky stormed back from a three-hole deficit, the duo thought they were in trouble again.
But Homan drilled a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 14th, and he and Fink held on to claim the 44th annual event, 2 and 1.
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Mirror photo by Nate Foreman
Artie Fink (left) and Todd Homan discuss their options on the 17th green.
"That was a big birdie on No. 14 for us," Homan said. "It was pretty straight, I had a good line and I just finally hit a good putt. We hadn't made any putts really - I think we only made one putt over 10 feet all week. When that went in, that was really good. That was a great putt to get it back to 1-up."
"Todd made that huge birdie on [No.] 14 after Mike just hit a pretty tough chip basically for a gimmie," Fink said. "For Todd to make that putt, it had to sting them a little bit. They already had par in, so that was pretty big. Momentum was on their side and that kind of brought it back for us."
Fink and Homan carded a 7-under 29 on the front nine to go 3-up, but within four holes on the back, Perry and Macionsky drew even.
"We played solid on the front nine, and we just kind of went brain dead there for three or four holes," Fink said. "We just lost it. We just tried to grind it in and hang on to what we had."
"I think we played our best nine [holes] of the tournament on the front," Homan said. "You have to par No. 10 and birdie No. 11 or you're going to lose those holes in the championship flight."
And that's what Perry and Macionsky did to win those key holes.
After halving No. 12, they also beat Fink and Homan's bogey on the par 5 13th with a birdie to even the match.
"Nothing really changed," Macionsky said of the momentum swing. "We just started hitting better shots on the back, and they made a couple of mistakes. But we couldn't capitalize in the end."
"You've got to give them credit," Fink said. "They didn't go anywhere. They battled and got it back to even."
Fink and Homan picked up their first victory in the two-man best-ball tournament since 2006 on the par-4 17th when Macionsky lipped out his short par attempt.
Macionsky caught his approach shot a little thick, sending the ball to the back of the green. His first putt ended up rolling four feet long.
"I thought I hit a good wedge, actually, and it just ended up taking off," Macionsky said. "The short putt, I just tried to hit it firm, and it stayed on the line and ended up lipping out. I'm not too mad about that. I thought I hit a good putt."
Fink missed his birdie attempt just moments before and both he and Homan were prepared to play the 18th.
"It got ugly towards the end, but we were just trying to hang on," Fink said. "When you shoot 7-under on the front, you don't expect to have to play 18 [holes], but they didn't go away."
"Obviously, I'm glad we won," Homan said. "I don't wish anything bad on anybody. Mike was hitting great all day and made great putts. I actually thought he was making [the putt] and we were going to 18 up one. I feel bad for him missing, I don't wish anyone to miss, but I'm glad we won."
Tournament note: Jody Dawson had a hole-in-one on the par 3 14th with an 8-iron during Saturday's competition. He and his partner, Jeff Wolfe, were runners-up in the fifth flight.
CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
Homan/Fink def. Perry/Macionsky
FIRST FLIGHT
Haley/Biltz def. D'Angelo/Pagley
SECOND FLIGHT
Genter/Hall def. Thompson/Dinges
THIRD FLIGHT
Elliott/Gildea def. Mehalick/Kephart
FOURTH FLIGHT
Butler/Richmond def. Frost Seidel
FIFTH FLIGHT
Locke/Ayers def. Wolfe/Dawson
SIXTH FLIGHT
Boyer/Gesacion def. Green/Green
SEVENTH FLIGHT
Bevan/Fink def. Chamberlain/Chamberlain
