Not exactly a breeze

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This article was published 19/08/2019 (2544 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s usually a question of “how low can they go” when the pros on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada tee it up.

That certainly wasn’t the case Sunday, where howling winds at wide-open Southwood Golf & Country Club brought many of the best players to their knees.

Consider this: not a single member of the final 18 twosomes — that would be the top 36 golfers through the first three rounds — managed to break 70. Perhaps most incredibly, six of the players in the field couldn’t even break 80.

One of those was Brad Miller, who began the day at 16-under with a two-shot lead, only to finish it at six-under and in a tie for 30th after firing an embarrassing 10-over 82.

“It was strong enough that it was blowing putts. You’d have a putt that was inside right, and it blew it to break right,” said Miller, whose dream of capturing a first-ever pro event quickly turned into a nightmare.

“I’d probably be lying if I said I didn’t get frustrated myself. It probably snowballed a little bit,” he said.

They say misery loves company, and that was certainly the case on Sunday with several other horror stories to go along with Miller’s.

Veteran Patrick Newcomb of Kentucky began the day at eight-under, only to shoot 86 to finish six-over, moving from a tie for 25th to a tie for dead last among the 66 golfers who made the cut.

Canadian Michael Belle was in the hunt at 10-under when he began his final round, only to balloon to 83 and finish one-over, moving from a tie for 13th to a tie for 60th.

England’s Greg Eason went from 12-under to four-under after shooting 80, going from a tie for fifth to a tie for 46th.

Kentucky’s Ashton Van Horne went from 11-under to three-under after shooting 80, going from a tie for eighth to a tie for 53rd.

California’s Jake Johnson went from six-under to two-over after shooting 80, going from 44th to 62nd.

All of which makes a round such as Paul Barjon’s seven-under 65 on Sunday look even more impressive. The No. 1 player on the tour, with two wins this season under his belt, began the day at five-under and was one of the earlier tee times. He took advantage of less gusty wins in shooting the best round of the day, which vaulted him to a tie for fourth, only two strokes out of the lead.

‘It (wind) was strong enough that it was blowing putts. You’d have a putt that was inside right, and it blew it to break right’– Third-round leader Brad Miller, who shot 82’It was kinda fun to have a little weather’– Paul Barjon, who teed off early and shot 65

“I knew I wanted to shoot a low score and I was fortunate to have less wind on the first nine. It definitely picked up on my last five, six holes. These guys are going to have fun, I can tell you that much,” Barjon, 26, said with a smirk after he finished, with most of the field still out on the course as it really started to blow.

“It’s kinda fun to have a little weather.”

Miller, 29, still managed to have a smile on his face after the round, repeating some words of wisdom given to him by veteran European pro Padraig Harrington during a previous conversation.

“He’s told me he’d much rather you shoot 80 in the final group of the tournament than 65 or 64 teeing off first and finishing top 10. In that you learn a lot more from what I did. Now we’ll see in a few weeks if I learned anything,” said Miller, who will play in the final tournament of the season in early September in Montreal.

“That’s what he said. I don’t know if it’s true or not. I kinda gotta roll with that or else I’m going to be pretty depressed for the next couple weeks. But good learning experience.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg