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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 2018)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Tuesday, April 10, 2018 Reed wins first major title, holding off Fowler at Masters By DOUG FERGUSON Associated Press AUGUSTA, Ga. — The tepid applause that greeted Patrick Reed on the first tee made it clear he wasn’t the people’s choice. All he cared about was being the Masters champion. He turned back an early move by Rory McIlroy and a late charge by Rickie Fowler. Most daunting in the middle of the final round Sunday was a familiar name at Augusta National — Jordan Spieth — on the verge of the greatest comeback in Masters history. Reed had the game and the grit to beat them all. And when he slipped on that green jacket, he had everyone’s respect. “I knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Reed said. “It’s just a way of God basically saying, ‘Let’s see if you have it.’ Everyone knows you have it physically with the talent. But do you have it mentally? Can you handle the ups and downs throughout the round?” He has proven that playing for his country. He did it Sunday for himself. The final test was a 25-foot putt down the scary slope on the 18th green, and Reed pressed down both hands, begging it to stop as it rolled 3 feet by. From there, the 27-year-old Texan calmly rolled in the par putt for a 1-under 71 and a one-shot victory. Known as “Captain America” for his play in the Ryder Cup, Reed added a far more important title: Masters champion. The loudest cheers were for everyone else, and Reed picked up on that right away. The crowd was squarely behind McIlroy and his best chance yet at completing the career Grand Slam. Then it was Spieth, running off four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the back nine to challenge the course record. The loudest cheer was for Fowler when he made an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole to pull within one. Reed never flinched through it all. “I just went out there and just tried to play golf the best I could and tried to stay in the moment and not worry about everything else,” Reed said. Reed, who finished at 15-under 273, won for the sixth time in his PGA Tour career. Until Sunday, he was best known for the trophies he shared at the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. He is ferocious in match play, especially the team variety, and his singles victory over McIlroy at Hazeltine in the 2016 Ryder Cup led to his nickname. “He’s not scared. I think you guys have seen that previous from the Ryder Cups and the way he plays,” said Fowler, who closed with a 67. “He won’t back down. I don’t necessarily see him as someone that backs up and Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP Patrick Reed celebrates after winning the Masters golf tournament Sunday in Augusta, Ga. will let you come back into the tournament. You have to go catch him.” Fowler did his best with three birdies in a four-hole stretch, and the 8-footer on the final hole. It still wasn’t enough. Fowler was runner-up for the third time in a major. He left the scoring cabin when Reed tapped in for par. “Glad I at least made the last one, make him earn it,” Fowler said with a grin as he waited to greet the newest major champion. “You had to do it didn’t you?” Reed told him as they exchanged a hug. “You had to birdie the last.” Spieth put up the most unlikely fight and was on the verge of the greatest comeback in Masters history. He started nine shots behind going into the final round, and was inches away on two shots from a chance at another green jacket. His tee shot on the 18th clipped the last branch in his way, dropping his ball some 267 yards from the green. His 8-foot par putt for a record-tying 63 narrowly missed on the right. He had to settle for a 64. “I think I’ve proven to myself and to others that you never give up,” Spieth said. “I started the round nine shots back and I came out with the idea of just playing the golf course and having a lot of fun doing it and try to shoot a low round and finish the tournament strong and see what happens, if something crazy happens.” McIlroy, meanwhile, will have to wait another year for a shot at the career Grand Slam. Trailing by three shots to start the final round, he closed to within one shot after two holes. That was as close as he came. McIlroy’s putter betrayed him — he missed four putts inside 10 feet on the front nine — and he was never a factor on the back nine. He closed with a 74 and tied for fifth. “Tough day, but I’ll be back,” McIlroy said. “And hopefully, I’ll be better.” Reed is old-school among his generation, with a brash attitude and a willingness to speak his mind. He has never been terribly popular in this state, mainly because of allegations of bad behavior while playing for Georgia that led to an early departure from the Bulldogs. He trans- ferred to Augusta State and led the outmanned Jaguars to a pair of NCAA titles. His parents live in Augusta, but were not at the tournament. They weren’t at his wedding in 2012, a relationship Reed chooses not to discuss. “I’m just out here to play golf and try to win golf tour- naments,” Reed said. He won a big one Sunday, and it was hard work, just the way he likes it. Different about this victory for Reed was the fuchsia shirt he wore as part of a Nike script. Reed always wears black pants and a red shirt because that’s what Tiger Woods does, and Reed has long modeled his mental game after Woods. “Be stubborn,” he once said about learning by watching Woods. Woods broke par for the first time all week with a 69. He tied for 32nd, 16 shots behind, in his first major since the 2015 PGA Cham- pionship. Reed went to the back nine with a four-shot lead over four players, and they all had their chances. That included Jon Rahm, the 23-year-old from Spain, whose chances ended when he went after the flag on the par-5 15th and came up short in the water. He shot 69 and finished fourth. Reed made a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 12, and his biggest birdie was a 9-iron to 8 feet on the 14th that broke the tie with Spieth. He made all pars from there. That was all he needed. He became the fourth straight Masters champion to capture his first major. Reed once claimed after winning a World Golf Championship at Doral that he was a top 5 player in the world, which subjected him to ridicule because it was only his third career title. His first major moves him to No. 11. It also comes with a green jacket, which is worth far more notoriety, not to mention respect. ROUNDUP: Pendleton girls tennis team played some of their best tennis BHS 000 015 X — 6 4 1 (M) J. Vela. (B) S. McCauley. W — McCau- ley, L — Vela. Continued from 1B on Saturday, with the home Bulldogs winning both by scores of 12-2 and 6-0. The Pioneers’ (4-5 overall, 0-2 GOL) only two runs of the day came from Eric Rencken, who hit a two-RBI double in the third inning of Game 1. Rencken finished the day with two hits — both doubles — and two RBI, while Jesus Vela had four hits with a double and one run scored, and Rudy Esparza had one hit. In Game 2, a pitchers duel broke out between Mac-Hi’s Vela and Baker’s Sam McCauley with both teams deadlocked at 0-0 until the fifth inning. However, in the fifth the Bulldogs got on the board with a steal of home, and one inning later Baker (5-3, 2-0) got to Vela and cemented its lead with five more runs. Vela finished with four hits and six runs allowed over six innings with four strikeouts. McCauley wound up with a complete game shutout, striking out 14 and allowing only one hit and two walks. ——— Game 1 R H E MHHS 002 00X X — 2 6 6 BHS 262 11X X — 12 9 3 (M) D. Cothey, M. Cunnington (3). (B) M. Bennett. W — Bennett, L — Cunnington. HR: D. Linscott, B. Golar (B). 3B: D. Lin- scott, M. Van Arsdell (B). 2B: E. Rencken 2 (M); S. McCauley, D. Osborn, J. Rohner (B). Game 2 MHHS 000 000 0 — R 0 H 1 E 6 2B: J. Vela (M); D. Linscott, J. Rohner (B). TRACK AND FIELD YAKIMA — The Herm- iston Bulldogs joined their future WIAA competition at the Davis Invitational at Zaepfel Stadium on Saturday and fared well against tough competition with a number of top five finishes. On the boys team, Jonathan Hinkle finished within the top five in both the 100- and 200-meter dash. He finished fifth in the 100-meters after clocking a time of 11.80 seconds, and finished fourth in the 200-meters with a time of 23.64. In middle distance, Freddy Mendoza finished fifth in the 800-meters, who finished in 2:07.81. Tyler Rohrman impressed in the 110-meter hurdles and placed third (15.18) while Alexis Morales was third in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 45.49. In the field events, Antonio Fernandez finished second in both the shot put (48-07.00) and discus (146-09). Jackson Morgan earned a fifth place finish in the high jump after clearing 5-10.00 For the girls, Scout Reagan was just 0.02 seconds shy of second place and finished third in the 100-meter dash in 13.13 seconds. In the 200-meters, Elsa Torres took first place (27.16) as she was the only runner to clock sub-30 seconds. Distance runner Sidney Tovey placed second in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 12:42.24 — a new personal record. Madison Wilson was the final Bulldog to place within the top five on the track after a second place finish in the 100-meter hurdles (15.53) and a third place finish in the 300-meter hurdles (49.16). Both the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams finished first and second, respectively. Stephanie Miears was dominant in both the shot put and discus throw. She earned first place in shot put after a new personal best of 39-10.00 and finished second in discus after recording 105-11. TENNIS PENDLETON 7, BAKER 0 — At Pendleton, the Pend- leton girls tennis team played some of their best tennis of the season so far and ended up with a 7-0 victory over the Baker Bulldogs on Monday afternoon. “We had a couple of close matches, but we did a good job of staying mentally tough to pull those out,” Pendleton coach Rocky Dillenburg said. The Buckaroos’ closest match of the day came at No. 1 doubles, where Becca Walker and Larissa Chambers won a second set tiebreaker 6-6 to claim the match victory. The remaining two doubles teams lost only four of the 24 games they played on Monday. ———— Singles Bethany Flanagan (P) def. H. Johnson 7-5, 6-3 Abby Williams (P) def. G. Tribilcock 7-5, 6-4 Denae Smith (P) def. L. Macias, 6-1, 6-3 Emma Florence (P) def. M. Hall 6-2, 6-0 Doubles Walker/Chambers (P) def. Woodward/A. Pettit 6-1, 6-6 (7-4) Davies/Bradt (P) def. Niehaus/Knudsen 6-0, 6-3 Heriza/Durant (P) def. Oberlander/C. Pettit, 6-1, 6-0 MAC-HI 7, WESTON- MCEWEN 7 — At Milton-Freewater, the Mac-Hi Pioneers and Weston-McEwen TigerScots played a rescheduled match on Monday where both teams ended up winning seven matches total. In boys action, it was the Pioneers that won by a 6-1 score while the TigerScots girls won 6-1. For the boys, Weston-McEwen’s only victory came at No. 1 doubles, where Calvin Papineau and Robbie Davison knocked off Mac-Hi’s Alexis Pio and Kristofer Carillo 6-3, 6-0. For the girls, Mac-Hi’s only win came at No. 4 doubles, where Sarah Odman/Jadie Jackson took down Josie Phillips/Shelby Yunk by a 8-0 score. ———— Boys Singles Deazen Zerba (M) def. Lebraun Albert 6-1, 6-1 Bryan Abrego (M) def. Noah Kelly 8-5 Jamie Gomez (M) def. Cade Bryan 8-5 Rafael Pereyada (M) def. Harry Shaul 8-0 Boys Doubles Papineau/Davison (W) def. Pio/Carrillo 6-3, 6-0 Villegas/Perez (M) def. Wood/Kelly 8-1 Castillo/Pereyada (M) def. Curtindale/ Swafford 8-1 Girls Singles Johanna Albert (W) def. Janelle Martinez 0-6, 6-2, 6-1 Krysta Calvert (W) def. Aspen Potter 8-0 Tenley Alderson (W) def. Jessica Her- nandez 8-1 Girls Doubles Swafford/Bagdon (W) def. J. Lesko/K. Lesko 6-2, 6-3 Olson/Davis (W) def. Flores/Garcia 8-5 Calvert/McIntyre (W) def. Alvarez/Angel 8-1 Odman/Jackson (M) def. Phillips/Yunk 8-0 WILSON: Plans on studying exercise science Continued from 1B of Newberg to the academics just felt right and helped make the decision for her. “When it came to visiting the campus and seeing the student life ... when I went to George Fox I just felt at home on campus,” Wilson said. “And I’ve heard so many amazing things about it and they have the program I want to study, which is obviously the most important thing.” Wilson, who plans on studying exercise science with the goal of later going into athletic training or physical therapy, capped her Helix career in an impressive way. The 5-foot-10 Wilson used a relentless work ethic to terrorize opponents, tallying a team-high 298 kills (9.6 per match) with 71 blocks and 60 serving aces in the fall, helping the Grizzlies to a 21-10 overall record and a third place finish in the Old Oregon League. “She (Wilson) led by example, she came in worked hard and anything you asked her to do, she just did it,” former Helix coach Tammie Parker said to the audience during the ceremony. “She worked well with her team- mates, her teammates always respected what she did and this is a huge honor for her to be able to go and play college volleyball. “It will be a different world for her from high school volleyball, but what I know of Sadie is she is definitely up to the challenge and I am very proud of her.” ———— Contact Eric at esinger@ eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0839. Follow him on Twitter @ByEricSinger. DRAWINGS FOR PRIZES FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY Online registration & race information at WWW.BUTTECHALLENGE.COM REGISTER ONLINE BY APRIL 28TH TO ORDER A CUSTOM TECHNICAL RACE T-SHIRT All proceeds benefit THE HERMISTON CROSS COUNTRY PROGRAM Thank you for your support!