When you take fast, firm greens and throw in increasingly brisk winds, the Anchorage Golf Course doesn’t yield many birdies, unless your name is Greg Sanders.
Sanders piled up seven birdies Sunday to shoot a final-round 68 in the Anchorage Open and win his second title by 11 strokes over Adam Baxter.
“At some point, I made so many birdies, I forgot what holes they were on,” Sanders said. “That usually doesn’t happen for me.”
Sanders, known as more of a steady par-making machine than a light-em-up birdie barrage artist, rode a hot putter throughout the 36-hole event and said he looked forward to stepping onto each green, because he continually felt like he might make another birdie putt.
“My putting suits these greens spectacularly for some reason,” Sanders said. “The speed and the read are just right and I can’t say that about any other course in any other tournament this year.”
Sanders played alongside State Am champ Adam Baxter for the second straight day Sunday and Baxter said Sanders’ play was the best he had seen in some time. He played with Sanders last summer when Sanders torched the field for a fifth State Am title and said last weekend was even better.
“Ball striking last year in the State Am was way better,” Baxter said. “Scoring this weekend was phenomenal.”
All this on a Sunday that found most golfers in the tournament befuddled. The clubhouse was full of stories about the highest scores shot in years, the inability to land shots on greens or putt the greens once reached. Swirling winds made club selection feel like a guessing game at times on the back nine, but Sanders carried a higher level of certainty.
“I think what happens is, if you get on the wrong side of the hole or the green, or miss it in those spots around the green, it feels impossible and I was able to maneuver my ball to where it didn’t feel difficult and that was the key,” Sanders said.
Having played AGC for years helps create a comfortable feeling, Sanders said, something that tends to be the case in the Anchorage Open each year. This was the fourth installment of the event and Sanders has won the last two, the first two having gone to Brad Pitzer.
