The Coastal Bend Championship 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Recap

 

 

Sunday January 12, 2020

Portland, TX

 

 

     The Golf Channel Am Tour's Hill Country Tour kicked off the 2020 calendar year with the Coastal Bend Championship, near Corpus Christi. An event that's been marred by hurricane-force winds in recent years was decidedly calmer on Sunday, and the scoring reflected it. 

 

 

 

   

 

 Jack Iglesias has been the man to beat this season in the Snead flight, already having captured two trophies coming into Sunday. After opening in a sizzling 38 strokes on the front nine, Iglesias put it in cruise control the rest of the way, knowing his work was all but over. 51 on the back wasn't enought to keep him off the podium, as he racked up win number three on the young season, thereby earning qualification for the National Championship in September. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

     In the Jones flight, Houston Tour player Gene Macha held a one-stroke lead through seventeen holes of struggle on Sunday. After limping to the finish by giving back 13 shots in a four-gole stretch late in the round, macha saved his best for last, making a clutch birdie on the 18th hole that secured a 99 and his first victory of the season. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     It took extra holes to determine a Sarazen champion on Sunday, as Michael Halpin and Damian Shipley went back and forth to the finish and tied at 90 in regulation. They arrived there very differently, Shipley leaking oil late and Halpin stacking pars atop one another. When it mattered the most, however, it was Shipley who was able to come out on top in sudden death for his first win of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Much like Snead, the Hogan flight was essentially won on the front nine. Kevin Burkett fired 37 on the outward half, giving him a cushion for the back nine, albeit one he would use up most of before it was all said and done. Burkett's 44 on the back nearly coughed up the title, but eventual runner-up Kevin Fontenot was not able to apply enough pressure in the end, posting 83.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     After a wild tee shot on the spacious first hole, Palmer player Garret Coan did not appear in control of the new driver in his bag. The opening double instead served to light a fire under the 19 year old, who would then reel off four birdies over the course of the round to post the low score of the day. His 76 was enough to garner the trophy over a very game Kevin Grillo, who despite being 48 years Coan's senior, put up a tremendous fight to shoot 79 and take second. Coan played his final seven holes in -2 to close it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     The youth trend continued as Joshua Lim made his Am Tour debut on Sunday in the Championship flight. Lim, who like Coan is just 19 years of age, didn't bring his best game to the Coastal Bend, but still left with the hardware. With 2s on the second and eleventh holes representing his only birdies, Lim's 77 was good enough to earn his first win on Tour, as he was uncontested in the flight.