Submitted by CanTour Communications John Berkovich
CALGARY, Alta. – Graham DeLaet fired a bogey-free 64 to win the ATB Financial Classic by four strokes over Byron Smith who closed with a 68.
DeLaet finished the tournament at 21 under par 267 and earned his second Canadian Tour titles and first since the Desjardins Montreal Open last August.
Scott Gibson’s 69 moved him into solo third at 15 under 273 while Mauricio Molina finished fourth at 14 under.
Third round leader Stuart Anderson fell to fifth at 275 after a closing 73, one ahead of Garrett Frank (67) and two ahead of Andrew Parr with a 70.
Richard Scott (68) and Josh Habig (74) shared ninth spot at 278.
Parring the first, DeLaet caught fired with six birdies on his next seven holes to hold a three-stroke cushion over Byron Smith after eight holes.
“I’m a little bit speechless,” said DeLaet.
“I got off to a great start by one-putting my first seven holes,” said DeLaet, who earned $24,000 and jumps to third on the Order of Merit. “I made a couple of nice up and downs for par and made some really good birdie putts.
“The crazy thing is that I turned in six under and didn’t have much of a cushion. I knew Stuart (Anderson) and Byron (Smith) were right behind me so it was a pretty stressful day for a while.
“Because of that, I kept pressing and made a really good par save on ten. I hit a really good approach that landed three feet from the pin but it spun off into the back fringe.
“I ended up making a good eight-footer for par, which kept the momentum going. It would have been a little devastating if I had missed that one because I had only a two stroke lead over Byron at the time.
Riding that momentum, DeLaet snaked in a 30-footer downhill at No. 13 for his seventh birdie of the day and followed it with scrambling pars at 14, 15 and 17, where he failed to cut the corner and was forced to take an unplayable lie at the par five.
“Both Josh (Habig) and I thought we got around those trees and couldn’t believe that we ended up in the junk.
Laying up with his third, DeLaet pulled his fourth shot into the rough left of the pin and sank the chip for another rescued par.
“I was hitting it great and rolling it well, which is a pretty good combination.” he added. “When you keep doing that, you’re going to do well.”
After several second place finishes, DeLaet knew the time for his second Tour win was imminent.
“I have been playing with a lot of confidence for the past year and knew that if I kept playing like this, the wins would come,” concluded DeLaet.
Despite a 68, Byron Smith couldn’t keep up with DeLaet this afternoon.
“I ended up hitting some good golf shots but they kept rolling over the green,” said Smith. “They were getting a little bit hard and when you try to force things under those kinds of conditions, it simply doesn’t happen.
“Graham DeLaet is an amazing talent, he’s quite impressive. When he gets confidence and learns how to seal the deal, which it looks like he has, he will be very, very dangerous.
“I think he is one of those guys that not only is going to make it but who is going to do really well.”
In the Clubhouse
Eugene Smith aced the fifth hole and was five under through his first six holes
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