Clutch Putts Lead Williams To His Third Career Win

Tuesday, March 22

Eugene, Ore. -- Eugene CC

All Day

University of Washington

Oregon Duck Invitational

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March 22, 2011 | Men's Golf

By: Washington Athletics

March 22, 2011

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EUGENE, Ore. -- A little over a week after his classmate and best friend on the team Charlie Hughes won the Bandon Dunes Championship, Chris Williams equaled him by winning a title of his own.

Williams birdied the final two holes on Tuesday to break a deadlock at the top of the leaderboard and win the Oregon Duck Invitational by two strokes over Oregon State's Alex Moore and Rice's Michael Whitehead. The victory was the third of the sophomore's UW career.

"He got off to a great start, but still other people played well and he was tied for the lead with two holes to go," said UW coach Matt Thurmond. "It was awesome. I was right there with him and it's so much fun to see a guy that needs to make birdies step up and do it."

Williams, from Moscow, Idaho, rolled in a 10-foot putt on No. 17 to take the one stroke lead and clinched the victory with another impressive birdie on 18. He used a seven iron from 170 yards out to knock his ball within six feet of the cup and calmly putted in from there to seal the deal.

For the 54-hole tournament at Eugene Country Club, Williams had 13 birdies and four bogeys. He equaled his UW career-best under-par score of -9 (207).

Hughes tried his best to one-up Williams, but fell four strokes short of his second-consecutive medalist honor. Hughes had a bogey-free, 5-under par 67 on the final 18 of the tournament and ended up tied for fifth at -5 (211) overall.

"For Charlie, it was a great event. He didn't have his best stuff - especially in the second round - he was kind of all over the place. He did an amazing job of hanging in there and was able to bring it in solidly and find a way to finish in the top-five," said Thurmond.

Hughes collected four birdies on the back nine, including three-straight on holes 15 through 17.

Despite the stellar play of Williams and Hughes - the only teammates to finish in the top-five - the Huskies finished third among 15 teams competing. No. 1 ranked Oklahoma State shot a combined 10-under 278 in the final round and ended up -16 overall for an eight stroke win over host Oregon.

"I wish we would have been able to give them a better run," said Thurmond about Oklahoma State and Oregon. "Oklahoma State is obviously a very good team and they're going to win their share of tournaments...I just wished they would have had to work a little harder to do it."

"Oregon had been struggling a little bit this year, but that's a really, really good team. They were playing on their home course and they played really well. It's tough to beat both those teams, but I would have liked to have been a little closer down the stretch."

The Cowboys and Ducks were the only squads that finished under par. Washington was +6 (282-294-294-870).

After Williams and Hughes, Kevin Spooner, Tze Huang Choo and Trevor Simsby were the Huskies top finishers - each ending up +9 and tied for 46th. Choo and Simsby were competing as individuals and did not count towards the UW team total.

Larry Iverson tied for 69th at +16 in his first team competition and Cory McElyea tied for 72nd at +17.

The Huskies will enjoy the rest of their spring break at home in Seattle before heading to Augusta, Ga. for the Adminstaff Augusta State Invite at Forest Hills Golf Club from April 2-3.

3	Washington	282	294	294	870
1	Chris Williams (2)	67	71	69	207
T5	Charlie Hughes (1)	70	74	67	211
T46	Kevin Spooner (3)	75	74	76	225
T69	Larry Iverson III (5)	70	80	82	232
T72	Cory McElyea (4)	75	75	83	233