LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Chez Reavie carded four birdies and two bogeys to earn six points and hold off hard-charging Alex Noren by one point to win the US PGA Tour Barracuda Championship in Truckee, California, yesterday.
Reavie, who started the day with a six-point lead, had Noren breathing down his neck on the back nine at Tahoe Mountain Club after the Swede’s run of four straight birdies from the sixth through the ninth.
But Reavie held on, matching Noren’s birdies at the 12th and 16th to claim victory in the event, which uses a Modified Stableford scoring system that awards five points for an eagle, two for a birdie and deducts points for bogeys and worse.
Reavie finished the week with 43 points while Noren piled up 14 to finish with 42.
“I just stayed patient,” said Reavie, who bogeyed the fourth hole before picking up his first birdies of the day at the eighth and ninth.
“I knew I was going to have to. I knew some guys were going to make a lot of birdies early.
I was hoping to be one of those guys, but the putter was kind of letting me down early.
“I just tried to keep it as close as I could to the hole and give myself some good looks.”
Reavie, 40, captured his third US PGA Tour title and his first since 2019.
“I’ve been working hard,” he said. “I’ve been hitting the ball and I knew I could do it. I just kept grinding, and here we are.”
Noren called it a “roller coaster” of a week, after he decided to depart St Andrews before the start of the British Open, where he was first alternate, and try his luck in the California mountains.
As it turned out, he would have gained entry to the final major of the year after Justin Rose withdrew with a back injury.
But Noren, who turned 40 last week, said he didn’t regret the decision.
“I love this course,” he said. “It was pretty tricky today with the wind. It’s been a roller coaster of a week, obviously, but when you make the cut you think, well, this is a great week anyway.
“Then I played good on the weekend and had a blast today,” Noren added.
