Jason Bohn said that when he looked out at the ocean and saw rain coming, he knew it was going to be tough day at the OHL Classic. However, he kept it together long enough to take the lead after Saturday’s penultimate round.
Bohn made a pair of birdies and a pair of tough par saves that were just as valuable to post a four-under 67 in the rain and wind that gave him a one-shot lead over Shawn Stefani going into the final round of the last PGA Tour event of the calendar year.
“When we started, it was just a little bit breezy. It was nice. It was going to be a beautiful day,” Bohn said. “Then we could kind of see the rain coming in from the ocean. Once it started raining, it got very difficult. The greens got a little bit slower just from the rain. If you were in the rough, you got some squirters where the ball could fly where there was water trapped between the grass and the ball, and it was just tough.”
Photo: AFP
Bohn was reminded on the final hole how tough it will be to capture his third career victory and his first since New Orleans in 2010.
He stretched his lead to three shots as US trio Stefani, Ken Duke and 36-hole leader Michael Putnam kept dropping shots. On the 18th hole at the El Camaleon course in Mayakoba, Mexico, Bohn tugged his approach to the left of the green.
Stefani, who made bogey from the bunker on the 16th and from a tee shot into the bushes on the 17th, made a 20-foot putt for one of only two birdies on the 18th hole in the final round.
Bohn left his long birdie putt about 5 feet short and missed for a bogey. That put him at 15-under 198 and whittled his three-shot lead down to one.
Stefani is looking his first PGA Tour win. He lost to Justin Rose in a playoff at Congressional in July.
Bohn is coming off a runner-up finish last week in Mississippi and is 29-under par in his last seven rounds.
Charley Hoffman (67) and Alex Cejka (68) were three shots behind, while the group at 11-under 202 included Jerry Kelly and Ken Duke, who hit a tee shot in the hazard on the 16th and made double-bogey.
“Only time I hit it in the hazard all week,” Duke said. “It’s just tough to get out there with everything coming down. You’re just soaked out there.”
Fred Funk, 58, whose Champions Tour season is over, was five shots behind, while Oscar Fraustro of Mexico had a 69 and was in the group at nine-under 204, and Carlos Ortiz again held up under all the attention with a 69. He was seven shots behind.
Ortiz won three times on the Web.com Tour a year ago and was voted its player of the year.
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