Ken Williamson wins Flint City Publinx with 40-foot birdie putt on final hole
by Brendan Savage | The Flint Journal
Sunday August 24, 2008, 8:48 PM
FLINT, Michigan — Ken Williamson has always been a streaky putter.
"It's hit or miss," Williamson said. "I either putt really well and make some or putt really bad."
Fortunately for Williamson, it was the former and not the latter when he reached the 18th green this afternoon at Swartz Creek Golf Course.
Williamson, 29, calmly rolled in a 40-foot birdie putt on the final hole to take the outright lead and then won his second Publinx crown in five years when first-round leader Bill Devernay missed his 25-foot birdie attempt that would have forced a playoff.
With a score of 70-74—144, Williamson was the only player in the 54-man field not over-par. He can thank the birdie on the 502-yard 18th for that.
"I hit 3-wood, 3-wood, choked-down pitching wedge," Williamson said. "The wind kind of caught me off-guard and I still had 40 feet. Reading the putt, it looked like going over the hill it was pretty straight. I gave it enough speed and it stayed true.
"I felt really good on that last one there. It felt right."
Devernay started the final round with a one-shot lead over Williamson and a two-shot edge on former champion Curtis Jackson after carding 69 in Friday's first round at Kearsley Lake.
But Williamson seized control by matching par with 36 on the front nine at Swartz Creek to build a three-shot lead heading to the back side.
That's when it got interesting.
Williamson bogeyed the tough par-4 10th, bogeyed the par-4 13th after taking an unplayable lie and then bogeyed the par-3 14th. That cut his lead on Devernay to two shots.
Williamson got off the bogey train on the 15th with the first of three straight pars only to watch Devernay's putter heat up and leave them all square by the time they reached the 18th tee.
"Bill was just fighting all the way back," Williamson said. "I thought I had him when I made the turn. I was two up with five to go and he made a 30-footer (for birdie) on 16 and a 30-footer on 17 to square the match.
"It was unbelievable. They were snakers, big benders. It was serious match play. Thankfully that putt fell on 18. To win it twice is really special. My game just came together. It must have been my weekend."
Williamson and Joey Stimac, who tied for third at 5-over 149, both shot 74 for the best score of the second round. Stimac and Greg Brown were the only players in the top flight who bettered their first-round scores.
"It played a little tougher than yesterday," said Willliamson, an engineer at Michigan Timber and Truss. "Kearsley was playing pretty easy. They had the tees up a little bit on a couple of holes so the wind really wasn't a factor.
"With the wind kicking up (at Swartz Creek), it played a couple of shots tougher."
For the first time, a Senior City Publinx was also contested. Devernay won that by shooting 1-under 74-69—143 to finish five shots ahead of Jackson.
The Senior Publinx was played Thursday and Friday. Players entered in both events used their second-round Senior score as their first-round score in the Publinx.
City Publinx Championship
At Kearsley Lake/Swartz Creek
Par 72
First flight
Ken Williamson/70-74—144
Bill Devernay/69-76—145
Rob Parsi/73-76—149
Joey Stimac/75-74—149
Rob Bincsik/73-77—150
Curtis Jackson/71-80—151
Jimmy Thompson/73-78—141
Greg Brown/76-75—151
Chris Dotson/76-76—152
Jeff Barnes/76-77—153
Ryan Ream/74-79—153
Cameron Beckner/72-82—154
Steve White/75-80—155
Todd White/74-82—156
Scott Ball/76-81—157
Jimmy Jarman/76-81—157
Pete McFray/75-83—158
Billy Weichert/75-83—158
Mike Thompson/73-85—158
Second flight
Jon Walraven/77-75—152
Tom Michalik/77-75—152
Jordan Phillips/77-78—155
David Cox/78-78—156
Brian Mickens/79-77—156
Joey D'Antoni/80-77—157
Larry Hogard/78-80—158
Jeff Whitely/79-80—159
Cliff Hobson/78-82—160
Billy Anthony/77-85—162
Mitchell Morris/79-85—164
Todd Madden/79-85—164
Bobby Michaels/80-84—164
Jim Loviscek/79-86—165
Rich Burke/80-85—165
Fred Vizanko/80-85—165
Blake Roe/79-DQ
Nick Carey/79-DQ
Third flight
John Shkreli/81-82—163
Nick Holda/82-83—165
Rory Hills/82-84—166
John LaDuke/84-82—166
Greg Smith/85-83——168
Neil Dennis/86-84—170
Ronald Lawrey/84-87—171
David Yates/82-89—171
Gerald Edwards/84-89—173
Tarik Al-Alosey/89-93—192
Roy Cummings/87-99—186
Nick Fox/92-98—190
Lionel Gonzales/90-NC
Keith Lancaster/91-NC
Eddie Lavelle/91-NC
Jesse Buchanan/94-NC
Robert Gynac/125-DNF
Senior City Publinx Championship
First flight
Bill Devernay/74-69—143
Curtis Jackson/77-71—148
Jimmy Thompson/78-73—151
Jeff Barnes/76-76—152
Rich Burke/72-80—152
Dave Rose/73-81—154
Larry Hogard/76-78—154
Jim Loviscek/77-79—156
Bob Michaels/77-80—157
Tom Day/77-80—157
Ken Donnelly/78-86—164
Lionel Gonzales/77-90—167
Second flight
Mike Thompson/80-73—153
Russ Cassady/79-77—156
Randy Dabbs/79-77—156
Ron White/80-80—160
David Cox/83-78—161
John LaDuke/79-84—163
Harold Soper/86-79—165
Ronald Miller/83-86—169
Jim Farah/85-84—169
Steve Toth/81-89—170
Gene Brown/88-87—175
Gary McCord/87-89—176
Jack Brown/88-93—181