Facing a slick, winding birdie putt on the 71st hole of the tournament, Lloyd Jefferson Go sank the biggest stroke of his career to take the lead at the Dogwood Invitational.
With Georgia Tech’s Luke Schniederjans failing to get up-and-down at the 17th and parring the 18th to post 20 under par, Jefferson Go knew at the 17th tee that he needed a birdie coming in to capture the title at Druid Hills Golf Club.
He struck a solid 4-iron at the 225-yard par 3, but a nasty putt from 15 feet above the hole awaited him.
“I hit a good shot on 17, 4-iron to like 15 feet, then I had this hard putt,” Jefferson Go said. “It was a good chance, but I have to hit a good stroke. So, I drained it and I was like, ‘yeah, come on, let’s go.’ It was definitely one of the biggest moments of my life.”
Needing only par on 18 to win, Jefferson Go stuck to his game while playing it smart. He comfortably hit the fairway, laid up to a little more than 100 yards and kept his approach shot under the hole to give him two putts from just outside 10 feet to win.
“I still have to swing normally,” Jefferson Go said about playing it smart on 18 with a 1-stroke lead. “I don’t want to get too defensive because that might throw me off my game. The third shot … I saw they put the pin in a tricky place. If I go long, it’s going to fall off the green, so I kind of played it a little short.”
He knocked his first putt a couple of inches short of the cup and tapped in the stress-free par for a back-9 31 to win the Dogwood Invitational in his first try.
Jefferson Go displayed unmatched consistency all week, shooting 67-67-67-66 in his win. He didn’t feel like any part of his game was outstanding, but none of it was bad. In his fourth consecutive week in competition, he said his game finally all came together this week.
He had just three total bogies in his first three rounds, but Saturday offered adversity for the first time all week. Sitting at 2 over through six holes, Jefferson Go found himself falling behind Dawson Armstrong and Schniederjans.
It didn’t last long. With birdies at Nos. 8, 9 and 10, he surged into good position going to the back-9. Perhaps his biggest shot of the tournament came on No. 11. Sitting in the fairway, Jefferson Go holed out for an eagle-2 to shoot him up to a tie for the lead at 18 under par. Two more birdies at 14 and 15 allowed him to keep pace with Schneiderjans, who made two eagles on the day, including one at No. 14 to get to 20 under.
“I made three birdies in a row, that really lifted my spirits … picked me up momentum and stuff,” Jefferson Go said about getting his round going. “But that hole out on 11 was just huge. Like, I hit a shot, it went in the hole, all of the sudden I’m 3-under for the day.”
Jefferson Go, a Philippines native, just graduated from Seton Hall this year, where he won the Big East championship in 2016 and finished runner-up in May. He plans to finish an amateur schedule in the United States this summer before going back to the Philippines to prepare himself for the Japan Tour.
Shooting a blistering 21 under for the tournament, Jefferson Go said he knew coming into the week that the scores would be low.
“Coming into this week, I was like, ‘wow the winner is going to be 17 or 18 under,’” Jefferson Go said. “I’ve never shot that low in my life. I’m thinking, I don’t know how I’m going to do this. I went out slowly making birdies and taking advantage of the par 5’s, and that’s how I reached 21 under I guess.”
Even with a Big East title to his name, Jefferson Ho said winning a storied tournament like the Dogwood Invitational — which features past winners like Webb Simpson, Brian Harman and Hudson Swafford — easily ranks at the top of his list.
“This is the best event I’ve won so far … definitely the best one.”
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