Loving Survives to Win First Major
Ned Loving (41-40-37-34, 9 Greens, 8 Birdies in final) mastered cool temps, wind, and a tough ‘major’ course set up to pace the field on HPO Day 2 with the only sub-par round of the day. Defending Champ Ray Nadell (40-46-35-37, 7 Fairways, 11 Greens in final) made a run from 7 shots back and came within one of Loving at mid-round, but his bid for a three-peat was turned back by Loving’s 4 birdies on the back nine. The win is Loving’s first on Tour and he is the 13th player in Tour history to make a major his first win. Rich Dunmore (40-42-40-39) improved two places on Day 2 to take 3rd. Andrew Wilson (35-45-41-42, 10 Fairways), the Day 1 co-leader, held on for 4th. Erik Meland reached a career milestone with his 300th start at the HPO, the 1st in Tour history to play in 300 events.
Day 1 recap:
For a while it looked like a replay of the Senior Open with Andrew Wilson and Tom Sachs doing battle again at Eagle Crest. But in the end Phil Johnson, Christopher Cooley, and Greg Kline may have more to say as Cooley and Johnson are tied with Wilson at the half way point and Kline is one back. Ned Loving, Rich Dunmore, Jeff Pasz and ‘The Godfather’ are all still in the mix. Actually the whole field has a shot at victory as the cut was only 7 shots off the lead. #1 Mike Prieskorn, Steve Bisson, Chris Japhet, and Tom Moran are all 5 back, Willi Hesse is 6 back and defending champ Ray Nadell, Seth Erskine, and Gregg Nothdurft are 7 back. Kline and Wilson have a shot at taking the Tour #1 World Ranking if they pull out the win. Jeff Klipa, Mike Nicholas, and #2 Chuck Withey had the hard luck of the day when Willi Hesse birdied his final hole and knocked them below the cut line.
Full results and history: Harbour Pointe Open
← All newsAll Harbour Pointe Open storiesHarbour Pointe Open history & results
