By Rich Brown
rbrown@joplinglobe.com
MIAMI, Okla. — Ted Potter was a little shaky Sunday after winning the NGA Hooters Buffalo Run Casino Classic. And understandably so.
The Silver Springs, Fla., golfer had to hang on to overcome David Skinns’ near-course record, then hold back a surge from third-round leader Martin Flores, who he defeated in a dramatic playoff.
Potter rattled in a birdie on the fourth playoff hole (the par-4 18th) to capture his second straight title and third this season on the NGA Hooters Tour. Potter, who won last week at Tunica, Miss, also heightened his status as the leading tour money winner, taking home $33,566 on Sunday to raise his total for the year went to $142,790, which more than doubles that of No. 2 Jeff Corr, the defending Buffalo Run champion.
Flores, whose runner-up check totaled $16,671, tied Potter at 20-under-par 268 in regulation play over the four-day event. The Dallas, Texas, player birdied the final hole to force the playoff.
Flores held a one-stroke lead going into Sunday’s play, while Potter was two strokes back in sixth place.
Skinns, who hails from Lincoln, England, jumped from a ninth-place tie on Saturday to finish third with 269 at the par-72, 6,960-yard, Peoria Ridge Golf Course. His final round of 62 was one stroke short of tying the course record set by Chris James of Edmond four years ago.
Skinns, in his fourth year as a pro, had two eagles to go with six birdies and no bogeys.
“This was my best round as a pro,” he said. “I was 4-under-par at the turn and finished 6-under on the back 9.”
His eagles came on the par-5 first and 10th holes.
“I hit a really good drive on No. 1, my best of the week, and came up eight feet short of the hole on my second shot, then hit a good putt,” he said. “I was aggressive off the tee on No. 10. I got my first shot all the way to the end of the fairway. Then I hit a hybrid from about 220 up hill into the wind for a perfect shot that ran within three feet of the hole.”
Potter in this only player on the Hooters Tour to win back-to-back championships since the start of the 2005 season. He also became the 10th player in tour history to win five titles. He won this year’s season opener at Amelia Island, Fla., and captured two crowns in 2006 at Dothan, Ala., and Little River, S.C.
“Winning back to back is unbelievable,” said Potter, who will continue the next leg of the tour at the Bentonville (Ark.) Open this week.
He said that Sunday’s round was demanding enough with temperatures hovering around 95 degrees and high humidity but going into a playoff made it even harder.
“It was tough going into the playoff knowing I had to play again on 18, which I thought was the hardest hole of the course,” he said. “Playing 18 holes in that heat and knowing I had to keep going was tough.
“He (Flores) made a good putt on the last hole to catch me and force it into a playoff. We went from 17 to 18 and I knew it would take a birdie on 18 to win it.”
Potter carded seven birdies en route to his second straight round of 65. The most important of Flores’ five birdies gave him the tie and left him at 67 for the day.
Cody Freeman, Edmond, tied with Joe Affrunti, Crystal Lake, Ill., for fourth with 272. Both had been tied for second going into the day and turned in identical rounds of 70.
Rhein Gibson, also from Edmond, ended in a sixth-place deadlock with Jason Dillard, Cullman, Ala., with 273s. Gibson led after the first two rounds before turning in a 4-over-par 76 on Saturday. He concluded with a 66 on Sunday, as did Dillard.
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Ted Potter prevails in playoff
Potter’s birdie on fourth extra hole wins Buffalo Run Casino Classic, earns second straight Hooters title
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