Published: January 27, 2009 02:57 pm      

2008 BNI: Finally, Wharton wins

Alan Wharton wasn’t going to let this one slip away.

After coming up short time after time chasing that elusive BNI Memorial Golf Tournament title, Wharton wasn’t about to let an eight-stroke lead evaporate.

And he didn’t.

Wharton, a Summersville native now living in Columbus, fired a 1-over 73 and finished with a three-day total of 207. Don Jones finished second with a 214, followed by England’s Ian Kenworth (215), Scott Prince (215), Kelly Shumate (216) and Mike Mays (217).

Wharton eschewed safety first, instead willing to tempt fate by keeping his driver in his bag.

“Yeah, there probably will be some questions about that, especially when I went to the driver on No. 14,” Wharton said. “But if you get conservative you let the field back into the tournament. My goal was to shoot par today. Instead of just keeping the lead at eight (which it was entering the day), I wanted to add to it. I was trying to make birdies. By making birdies, I could control my own fate. I wanted to keep the hammer down.”

That he did.

Prince actually got to within six strokes once, but a bogey on nine hurt his chances.

Reece, the two-time defending champion, got to within seven but he took a double on No. 8.

“I didn’t count scores,” Wharton said. “I didn’t want to know. I just kept pushing.”

Turns out that Jones, playing in the group in front of the final threesome of Wharton, Brandon Reece and Scott Prince, got the closest to Wharton.

And it wasn’t really that close.

It just shows it’s going in the right direction,” Jones, who now lives in Richmond, Va., said of his second-place finish. “I had trouble adjusting to the greens. I don’t play on any greens this good in Virginia. Overall, you always want to win. But Alan played really, really well. He was strong all week.”

Kenworth, who was a former Pfeiffer College golf teammate of Jones, finished third after carding the day’s low score of 70.

He had five birdies over his final eight holes, and that came after a double bogey in No. 10.

“And it could have been better,” Kenworth said. “I missed a short birdie putt on 12, had birdies on 13, 14 and 15 and missed a short birdie putt on 16, birdied 17 and three-putted on 18. I’m happy with my score, but it could have been better.”

For Prince, an 18-year-old recent graduate of Shady Spring who will golf collegiately at William and Lee next fall, it was a day of ups and downs. But he hung in there to card a 73 and finish fourth. It was a far cry from last year when he had a final day meltdown.

“I hate to be satisfied with anything I do, whether it’s grades, on the basketball court or golf,” Prince said. “But I am pleased with my day. I had some bad breaks but I had some good breaks too.”

One was on No. 6, when his tee shot flew into the trees. He chipped back onto the fairway and then nearly holed his next shot from 150 feet out. He ended up with a par.

Two-time champion Brandon Reece suffered through a tough day, carding a 78 to finish eighth with a 220.

“Yeah, a couple guys said they’d never seen me take some of the shots I did today,” Reece said. “If I had known (Wharton) was going to play the way he did, I probably would have said it was over.”

Jeff Bryant (218) and Chris Daniels (221), Greg McGraw (221) and Reuben Prillaman (221) round out the top 10.

“It’s a great feeling,” Wharton said. “It’s been a while coming. But it’s worth it.”

— E-mail: demorrison@

register-herald.com