MKadmin
11-06-2007, 15:15
http://wdwnews.com/assets/images/thumbL/ChildrensMiracleNetworkClassic_Color49942851.jpg (http://www.wdwnews.com/ViewImage.aspx?ImageID=107469)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- PGA TOUR player Stephen Ames had planned to go to Hawaii at Christmastime to celebrate the fact that golf is no longer a pain in the back for him. But thanks to an overhauled swing that has alleviated his physical problems and one magical bunker shot sprinkled with some Disney pixie dust, Ames finished the 2007 PGA TOUR season with a victory that will send him to Hawaii for a winners-only event ringing in the new professional golf year.
The Trinidad-born Canadian resident saved par from 65 feet out of a bunker on the final hole Sunday (Nov. 4) to preserve a one-stroke margin for victory in the Children's Miracle Network Classic presented by Wal-Mart at Walt Disney World Resort. Ames' 17-under-par 271 total was one stroke better than Tim Clark in the final official-money event of the year. The victory earned Ames $828,000 of a $4.6 million purse.
It marked Ames' third PGA TOUR victory and first of a 2008 season during which he triumphed over nagging back problems.
"Over all it's been a nice development, it's been painfree, which is the biggest thing for me," Ames said. "My back hasn't hurt whatsoever this whole year, so those are the things I've got to look at and progressively getting better and better at a ripe old age of 43."
Ames' prospects for victory on Disney's long (7,516 yards) Magnolia course ironically got better and better following a bogey on No. 11 that dropped him from the top of the leaderboard. It lit a proverbial fire under him, inspiring him to reel off birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 15.
"I didn't want to let [the bogey] get to me," Ames said.
Of the three back-nine birdies, "the one that I really enjoyed the most was that form that I held up there on 15 that finished about 6 feet behind the hole. It was a clutch shot there that I enjoyed the most for the day, and I knew what I had to do coming down to the end -- it was just myself to beat there, to an extent."
When Ames rolled in his 6-foot birdie putt on the 203-yard par 3 No. 15, he climbed to 17 under par and a one-stroke advantage that he made stand up by playing par golf on his final three holes. But the strategy hit a bunker at No. 18 that required his fourth successful sand save of the tournament.
Ames' clutch shot put him in a position to nail down the victory with a two-foot putt that left him feeling real good. "Nothing in my body hurts at this stage," he said, and then added, "My head might hurt tomorrow."
http://wdwnews.com/assets/images/thumbL/Stephen%20Ames%20Disney%20Champion66829320.jpg (http://www.wdwnews.com/ViewImage.aspx?ImageID=108342)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- PGA TOUR player Stephen Ames had planned to go to Hawaii at Christmastime to celebrate the fact that golf is no longer a pain in the back for him. But thanks to an overhauled swing that has alleviated his physical problems and one magical bunker shot sprinkled with some Disney pixie dust, Ames finished the 2007 PGA TOUR season with a victory that will send him to Hawaii for a winners-only event ringing in the new professional golf year.
The Trinidad-born Canadian resident saved par from 65 feet out of a bunker on the final hole Sunday (Nov. 4) to preserve a one-stroke margin for victory in the Children's Miracle Network Classic presented by Wal-Mart at Walt Disney World Resort. Ames' 17-under-par 271 total was one stroke better than Tim Clark in the final official-money event of the year. The victory earned Ames $828,000 of a $4.6 million purse.
It marked Ames' third PGA TOUR victory and first of a 2008 season during which he triumphed over nagging back problems.
"Over all it's been a nice development, it's been painfree, which is the biggest thing for me," Ames said. "My back hasn't hurt whatsoever this whole year, so those are the things I've got to look at and progressively getting better and better at a ripe old age of 43."
Ames' prospects for victory on Disney's long (7,516 yards) Magnolia course ironically got better and better following a bogey on No. 11 that dropped him from the top of the leaderboard. It lit a proverbial fire under him, inspiring him to reel off birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 15.
"I didn't want to let [the bogey] get to me," Ames said.
Of the three back-nine birdies, "the one that I really enjoyed the most was that form that I held up there on 15 that finished about 6 feet behind the hole. It was a clutch shot there that I enjoyed the most for the day, and I knew what I had to do coming down to the end -- it was just myself to beat there, to an extent."
When Ames rolled in his 6-foot birdie putt on the 203-yard par 3 No. 15, he climbed to 17 under par and a one-stroke advantage that he made stand up by playing par golf on his final three holes. But the strategy hit a bunker at No. 18 that required his fourth successful sand save of the tournament.
Ames' clutch shot put him in a position to nail down the victory with a two-foot putt that left him feeling real good. "Nothing in my body hurts at this stage," he said, and then added, "My head might hurt tomorrow."
http://wdwnews.com/assets/images/thumbL/Stephen%20Ames%20Disney%20Champion66829320.jpg (http://www.wdwnews.com/ViewImage.aspx?ImageID=108342)