T-Bone walks all the way to the Match Play title, 3rd major of the year
Thom “T-Bone” Bales finished the job on Sunday, winning his 3rd major championship of the year by taking the 2010 Match Play Championship with a 2&1 win over Rick Persichetti. The only player to walk all 4 rounds, Bales outlasted Erik Meland in the morning semi-finals 2&1 before the afternoon showdown with Perch.
Bales became the first player ever to win the first 3 majors of the season. He partnered with Mike Prieskorn to win the Memorial in May and then ran away with the Harbour Pointe Open in June. He plans to play in the WESTERN Championship on August 28 and the PLAYERS Championship on September 4. If he doesn’t capture the Grand Slam in one of those division championships then he will have a final shot at the TOUR Championship on September 18.
This was Persichetti’s 3rd runner-up finish in the Match Play but the 2nd place check of $40 made him the career leader in prize money ($1,398.07). Perch is 2nd all time in starts (131) and top-4 finishes (64) and is tied for most wins (17). Persichetti beat Dan Schwartz 4&2 in the morning semi-final by winning 5 of the first 6 holes to take control of the match
Meland beat Schwartz 3&2 for 3rd place. The match was all square thru 11 holes, but Meland carded 5 pars and 2 bogies on the last 7 holes to secure the match.
Thom Bales and Rick Persichetti finish the 2010 Match Play Championship on the Woodlands’ 17th hole
