Open and shut case

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This article was published 21/08/2022 (1310 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It wasn’t so much a competition as it was a coronation.

And standing tall at the end of a gruelling day, having left the rest of the field in his dust, was 22-year-old rookie phenom Parker Coody.

The Texan is just the latest member of his rather famous golfing family to find his way to the winner’s circle, capturing the CentrePort Canada Rail Park Manitoba Open in dominating fashion.

Coody finished the tournament at 27-under par after rounds of 65-62-67-67. He was one shot off the lead after Friday’s opening round, five up on the field after Saturday’s round, eight shots in front of the pack after Sunday’s third round and maintained that gap over his closest competitor when the final putt rolled in early Sunday evening at Southwood. Appropriately, it was for birdie.

“The feeling is awesome right now,” he said. “My goal was to get to 30-under. I know it sounds crazy, but I just had to keep going because there were low scores out there. The goal was 30, I got to 27. I’ll take it.”

Coody’s grandfather, Charles, is best known for fending off the great Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller to capture the 1971 Masters at Augusta, one of three career PGA Tour victories. (He also won five times on the senior tour). Coody’s identical twin, Pierceson, is currently a member of the Korn Ferry Tour and won in his just his third career start this past June in Maine, and is poised to quickly make the jump to the big tour next year.

“(Getting on the PGA Tour) is 100 per cent my goal. Just like my brother. We want to be out there together, and as fast as possible. Pierceson and I would both love to have our career be in the same name, the same realm as our granddad for sure,” he said.

After missing the course record by a stroke on Saturday, Coody didn’t take his foot off the gas on Sunday as the 63 who made the cut (five-under) crammed in 36 holes due to Thursday’s scheduled start being wiped out by rain. Coody collects $36,000 for the victory and moves to seventh on the Fortinet Cup standings with three events left in the 2022 season. The top five get full-time Korn Ferry Tour cards for next year, while No. 6-10 get conditional status on the U.S. circuit, which is the feeder tour to the big stage of the PGA.

“It proves to me that I can do it, and that I can do it really good. It gives me a lot of confidence,” said Coody.

Ian Holt of Ohio finished second at 19-under par.

“To be honest I didn’t look at the leaderboard one time. I had no idea what (Coody) was doing. I was just trying to make as many birdies as I could because I knew he had just a good start,” said Holt, 26, who now sits fifth on the tour rankings.

David Kim of California and Gavin Hall of New York tied for third at 18-under. One of the best stories of the week is that of Sudarshan Yellamaraju, a 21-year-old who finished tied for fifth at 17-under and was the top Canadian in the event.

Yellamaraju was born in India but his family immigrated when he was four. They settled in Winnipeg, where he became a regular at the Golf Dome and got his first membership at Larters in St. Andrews. They moved to Ontario when he was 11, where they remain. Yellamaraju won the Ontario Amateur in 2017 at the tender age of 16. He finished high school but opted to turn pro rather than attend college or university, but didn’t have full status when the 2022 PGA Tour Canada season began.

He had to Monday qualify just to get in a tournament earlier this year in Ontario, making the cut and finishing 51st. That ultimately got him into the Quebec Open two weeks ago, where he ended finishing in sixth place at 12-under. Suddenly, he no longer had to worry about whether he could get into the field, earning himself enough rankings points to ensure his inclusion the rest of the year.

“This was obviously an even better week. The scores are better, I shot better. Game was also much better,” said Yellamaraju. “I’m glad I’m playing consistent here a little bit. I’ve still got a couple weeks to go. Just try to focus on next week, rest and recover.”

Yellamaraju now sits 33rd in the rankings. He finished in a three-way tie with playing partners Jeffrey Kang of California and Carter Jenkins of North Carolina. The trio combined 30-under par in their final two rounds Sunday.

“When you have guys hitting the ball well and playing well, it helps. It was like OK, I know what I have to go up against,” said Yellamaraju. “Jeffrey in the first round this morning, he was like eight under through 12 or 13 and I was not making anything. I was like, OK, I kind of have to pick up the pace and definitely did the second round. It must have been a lot of fun for the people to watch. Pretty good golf.”

However, none could even come close to Coody, who made just two bogeys during the tournament— on the 17th of his opening round, and on the sixth of his final round.

The Coody twins have had a whirlwind past year, which included somehow both breaking bones in their arms during a training session in which they crashed into a wall while doing sprints.

Fully recovered, they teamed up to lead the University of Texas Longhorns to the NCAA golf championship in June. Both then turned pro, going slightly separate ways. Pierceson got conditional status on the Korn Ferry as the No. 1 ranked collegiate player in the nation, while Parker came up north after earning his way through qualifying school this past spring. His father, Kyle, also played pro golf in the 1990s.

Coody made his PGA Tour Canada debut in mid-June at the ATB Classic in Edmonton, finishing tied for 15th. He followed that up with a tie for 52nd at the next event in Prince Edward Island. But he cooled off significantly, missing the next three cuts heading into this week’s stop in Winnipeg.

“Pierceson hit the ground running as well as you could and I didn’t,” said Coody. “I was just trying to emulate what Pierceson did to start off with. I’m glad I did that in some fashion.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg