Small survives 'wet' final hole for his 6th straight IPGA title
It wasn't easy, but Mike Small's winning streak continued Wednesday when he captured the 86th Illinois PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club.
Small, 42, the University of Illinois men's golf coach, won his sixth consecutive Illinois PGA Championship and record seventh overall with an even-par 71 in the final round.
Small overcame a double bogey at the final hole to win by 1 stroke over Country Club of Decatur head professional Steve Orrick.
Small and Orrick reached the 186-yard, par-3 18th with Small holding a 3-stroke lead. Orrick, who had the honor, hit the center of the green, 12 feet from the hole. Small chose a 6-iron but it didn't quite have the distance, and the ball landed in the water hazard in front of the green.
"I hit a bad, bad shot," Small said. "I didn't realize the water went that far up on the left side of the green. Regardless, it was a bad shot."
Small was forced to take a drop and nearly holed the approach as his shot landed near the hole and stopped 10 feet above the cup.
"Being 3 down and heading to the final hole, I didn't really think I had a chance," Orrick said. "Then, I saw [Small's ball] splash and I said to myself 'wait a minute.' "
Orrick needed to make birdie and Small double bogey to force a playoff. However, Orrick had to settle for a tap-in par. Small, knowing he still had a 2-stroke cushion, gently lagged the downhill bogey putt and tapped in for double bogey to wrap up the championship.
"I had a good chance there at the end and just misread the putt," Orrick said.
Small has been dominant in the Illinois PGA Championship. His only blemish in the past eight years was a playoff loss to Bob O'Link head golf professional Gary Groh in 2002 at Kemper Lakes.
"Steve played really well," Small said. "I'm just lucky there weren't any more holes the way I was hitting it at the end."
Small, along with the next 11 finishers, received exemptions to play in the 42nd PGA Professional National Championship June 25-July 1, 2009 at Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.