Bales and Prieskorn team up to win 2010 Memorial Tournament
Thom Bales and Mike Prieskorn, partners out of necessity, found themselves holding the Green Towels at the conclusion of the 2010 Memorial Tournament last Saturday at Gateway Golf Club. The pair recorded the 3rd ever bogey-free round at the Memorial shooting a 5-under par 67 to win by 2. Bales’ Memorial partner for 3 years, Bob Bruning, moved to Texas last summer and the partnership with Prieskorn, hoping to play in his first Memorial, only formed the week before the tournament.
Bales and Prieskorn made birdies on 2 of their first 3 holes and avoided any mistakes along the way adding 3 more birdies. Each team that has played the Memorial without error – no bogies – has won the tournament (Persichetti/Collins in 2004 and Powell/Robar in 2009).
Bales is now a multiple major champion (2008 Habour Pointe Open) adding this Memorial title to a resume that includes 6 wins among 23 top-4’s. Meanwhile, Prieskorn is off to a hot start in his 2nd year on Tour with 2 wins and a 5th place in 3 starts.
Another late forming team, Rick Persichetti and DeVonne Mowry, tied for 2nd with a 2-under 69. Persichetti was trying to become the first 3-time winner at the Memorial and nearly did so with a 3rd different partner after his normal teammate Kelly Arnold was unavailable. Rob and Julie Gardner also shot 69 and the 2 teams were warming up for a playoff until the Bales/Prieskorn card came in to deflate the anticipation.
Greg Kline and Jason Rectenwald shared 4th place with Art Wakeford and Jon Heikkinen at 1-under 71. Kline has a Green Towel from 2006 and this was his 5th top-4 in 7 starts at the Memorial.
