Bohn’s first victory comes at B.C. Open

Jason Bohn’s sojourn has finally ended.

After bouncing around for years on mini tours and spending five years on the Canadian Tour, Bohn closed with a second straight 6-under 66 on Sunday for his first PGA Tour victory, a one-stroke victory and a tournament-record total at the B.C. Open in Endicott, N.Y.

“You don’t really expect when your first win is going to come,” said the 32-year-old Bohn, who finished at 24-under 264. “I hadn’t played that well this year. I missed a lot of cuts, and I haven’t seen that many great things come out of my game. And then this week I kind of got turned around.”

Bohn, in only his second year on tour, had six birdies in a bogey-free round and won $540,000 in becoming the 13th player to make this tournament his first triumph.

“It’s just amazing,” said Bohn, who made birdie at Nos. 16 and 17 to take a one-shot lead. “I couldn’t have asked for it to come out in a better scenario, my best friend on tour with me all day.”

The previous tournament record in relation to par was 22 under, set in 2001 by Jeff Sluman and Paul Gow. The tournament record score was 265, by Calvin Peete in 1982. He finished 19 under when the course at the En-Joie Golf Club played to a par 71.

Bohn edged his playing partner, Ryan Palmer (67), and J.P. Hayes (66), John Rollins and Australian rookie Brendan Jones (68). Jones, who held a one-shot lead entering the final round, rallied with three straight birdies at the finish, but his erratic play – he had three bogeys – cost him a shot at the title.

Ben Crane (64), Michael Allen (64) and Mathias Gronberg (66) of Sweden were in a group two shots back.

“We kept each other loose. I give a lot of credit to him,” said Bohn, who won a million-dollar shootout at age 19 with a hole-in-one and never was able to play in college at Alabama. “He kind of kept me loose out there. That was a big advantage for me.”

Nine of the previous 10 B.C. Opens had been decided by one shot – three in playoffs – and this one figured to follow form at the soft course, which gave up birdies by the bunch.

A dozen players began the day within four shots of the lead, and by mid-afternoon, six players were at 20 under and four more were just a shot back. As the day wore on, only the names changed. When the final pair had five holes left, Hayes was at 23 under with two holes to play and one shot ahead of Crane, Allen, Gronberg, and Bohn.

LPGA Tour

Meena Lee became the LPGA Tour’s record-tying fourth straight first-time winner, closing with a 3-under 69 for a one-stroke victory over playing partner Katherine Hull in the Canadian Women’s Open at Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The 23-year-old South Korean came close to winning twice earlier this season before breaking through on the picturesque Glen Arbour course.

Lee finished at 9-under 279 and earned $195,000 to jump from 13th to seventh on the money list with $643,933. The top player on the money list in the field, she opened with rounds of 73, 68 and 69.

Janice Moodie, the leader after each of the first three rounds, needed a birdie on the par-5 18th to force a playoff, but three-putted for a double bogey for a 75 that left her three strokes back.

Hull, a 23-year-old Australian who starred at Pepperdine, also closed with a 69 for the best finish of her short career.

Leta Lindley (68), Il Mi Chung (72) and Angela Stanford (73) finished two strokes back at 7 under, and Moodie tied for sixth at 6 under along with Brittany Lang (68), Johanna Head (68) and Dorothy Delasin (73). Tracy Hanson (Rathdrum, Idaho) finished a round of 70 and placed 48th with a total of 293. Birdie Kim began the streak of first-time winners in the U.S. Women’s Open. Marisa Baena followed with her match-play victory over Lee, and Heather Bowie won the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic last week.

Nationwide Tour

Jason Gore won his second straight Nationwide Tour event, closing with a 3-under 67 for a four-stroke victory over Bill Haas at the Scholarship America Showdown in Hudson, Wis.

Gore, a U.S. Open fan favorite who was coming off a victory at the National Mining Association Pete Dye Classic, finished at 14-under 266 at Troy Burne Golf Club. He is the first Nationwide player to record back-to-back wins twice. He also won the Oregon Classic and the Albertsons Boise Open in 2002.