A savvy bettor could have made $50 on a dollar bet this weekend, if betting was legal at the Arctic Valley Open.
Tyler McKinley, a 50-1 shot in the underdog report, put together a round of golf for the ages to pull off a comeback win at Moose Run's Creek Course on Sunday and win his first tournament.
"Just trying to keep your mind focused one shot at a time," McKinley said. "It's tough to do, especially when your mind starts creeping in, voices talking in the back of your head."
McKinley started the day four shots back of leader Paul Blanche, but shot 73 to Blanche's 78 and won the AVO by a shot. McKinley, 20, played in the group directly in front of Blanche, an always gracious competitor who congratulated McKinley warmly in the clubhouse.
"Any round under 75 is a great round on the Creek," Blanche said.
If McKinley hit a bad shot, he told himself not to worry about it and just go to the next shot. If you played with McKinley (Which I did), it was pretty difficult to discern which shots were bad. He was nearly flawless from the blue tees, which play at around 6,900 yards.
McKinley didn't hit any shots in the trees while making two birdies, three bogies and 13 pars. His drives were consistently long and straight and his approach shots often found the green. On the few occasions in which he found himself with more than a gimme for a par putt, he usually made it.
"I was playing conservative most of the round, you know, not going pin-hunting every single shot." McKinley said. "Whenever the opportunity arose for pin-hunting, I'd go after it."
McKinley is a course marshal at Moose Run and plays the Creek Course frequently. His familiarity with the course was a great help, but so was a Saturday night lesson from Frank Wilson.
McKinley knew if he continued to strike the ball the way he did during Saturday's round on the Hill Course he would have a lot of problems on the Creek, where wayward shots disappear in jungle-brush forever. He took a 15-minute lesson from Wilson and then hit two large buckets at the range to groove the stroke.
"More staying on top of the ball and not getting my head behind it and getting stuck behind the ball," McKinley said of the swing advice offered by Wilson.
While in the process of taking things one shot at a time, McKinley carried one primary swing thought with him as well.
"Don't cup my wrist on the back swing and make sure my wrists are relaxed and flat," he said.
McKinley, who leaves to pursue a professional golf management program at New Mexico State in the fall and will someday become a professional instructor, plans to play one more tournament before he departs: next week's State Am. All 72 holes of the event will be played at the Creek, starting Thursday.
"I feel like I can even go lower than this and get a lot more tournament wins," he said.
