Critical par save allows Haig Point pro to seal South Carolina Open win

The last time Matt Bova finished atop a leaderboard came just over three years ago when he survived a windblown afternoon to reserve a place alongside the PGA Tour pros at the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing.

Though Tuesday didn’t offer quite the same kind of reward, winning the 65th South Carolina Open brought no less satisfaction.

“This ranks right up there with it,” Bova said after a 2-under-par 70 left him one shot ahead of a trio of pursuers at Dataw Island’s Cotton Dike course. “Obviously having the chance to play a PGA Tour event might take precedent over this, but this is right up there. This is very, very big.”

The Haig Point assistant pro had only one blemish on his card, shaking off an early double bogey to play his final 13 holes without giving another shot back to par. A birdie at No. 17 proved to be the winning margin, and a stellar par save on the final hole sealed the outcome.

After blading a wedge beyond the 18th green, he recovered with a deft downhill chip that settled about 3 feet from the flagstick.

“It was such a bad third shot,” said Bova, who broke into a laugh while the mishit was still traveling and could still be in good humor afterward. “I had to hit kind of a half-flop shot (for the next) — land it in the rough, let it take a bounce or two. It got on the green and trickled to 3 feet.”

Bova finished a steady two days at 3-under 141, recording just six birdies in the tournament but avoiding the big numbers that dropped others down the leaderboard.

Larry George of Wallace, N.C., turned in Tuesday’s best round with a 6-under 66, but it wasn’t enough to offset an opening 76 as he came up one stroke short. He was joined by Ray Franz (Mount Pleasant) and Steve Isley (Oak Island, N.C.), who both carded birdies at the par-5 18th to grab a share of runner-up.

Defending champion Cory Schneider, who threatened to run away with Monday’s lead until a bogey/double bogey finish, couldn’t get back on track Tuesday. He finished four shots back after a 75, plagued by a four-hole stretch that included a bogey, double bogey and triple bogey.

“Got a little bit squirrelly with the swing,” said Schneider, a college teammate of Bova’s a decade ago at Methodist University. “It was tough to come back from that. ... To be honest, I just didn’t have my A-game today. That’s golf, unfortunately.”

The victory was a little surprising for Bova, who has found little time to play rounds during a busy two months at Haig Point. Until using a Carolinas PGA sectional event last week as a warmup, he rarely got out to play more than four or five holes in a stretch.

“I felt confident coming in, but it was just trying to put it all together,” Bova said. “Without playing, it’s hard to carry over what you’re doing to competitive rounds. That’s why I’m shocked. It’s a pretty stacked field here. To beat the players that are here, it’s pretty humbling.”

Beaufort’s Josh Fickes, a Clemson sophomore who like Bova began the day one shot off the pace, struggled to a 75 to finish in a tie for 13th. Also five shots back was former USC Beaufort golfer Brian Langley (72).

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 8:49 PM with the headline "Critical par save allows Haig Point pro to seal South Carolina Open win."