Cory Bull's long birdie decides Par Buster in playoff
With his playing partner Alex Ellis nestled near the hole for a potentially tournament-winning birdie, Cory Bull wasn't overly anxious about needing to make his own putt from a country mile away.
But when he did, it sure made for a dramatic conclusion to the Par Buster at Lubbock Country Club.
Bull knocked home a 50-footer on the No. 9 green Saturday as he and Ellis vanquished Brady Shivers and Thumper Galyean on the first hole of sudden death. What a way for the two-man team from Austin to grab their second victory in the past three Lubbock major golf events.
Bull, having pulled his approach short and left of the hole, just wanted to come close with the putt. Then he gave it not quite enough juice — or so he believed.
"I thought it was going to hang on the lip," he said. "I thought it was going to be one roll short. It just fell in and was great."
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Shivers, with the last chance to extend the playoff, missed from 18 feet. Even had Bull not made what proved to be the deciding birdie, Ellis was studying his own would-be winner from about 3 feet.
"Alex was 95 percent probably going to make that," Shivers said, "but credit to Cory. That was an unbelievable putt by Cory. In the situation, that was an unbelievable putt."
One way or another, Austin-area golfers are suddenly taking a lot of trophies out of Lubbock. Bull and Ellis won the Hillcrest Swinger in June, and Jake Doggett from Hutto and Tyler Ware from Georgetown won last month's LakeRidge Stampede.
Shivers finished runner-up or tied for runner-up in each one, with Michael Pruitt, Kale Hughes and Galyean as partners.
"I'm tired of second place," said Shivers, a nine-time winner in Lubbock majors since 2017.
Ellis and Bull took winning in June and backing it up six weeks later as significant progress. Last year, they shot 57 in the next-to-last round at Hillcrest, but still were outdone by Shivers and Pruitt. This year, they ended the locals' dominance at Hillcrest, Shivers having won five Swingers in a row, the last four with Pruitt.
"Brady's Brady, but Alex is right there with him in my opinion," Bull said. "Alex is every bit as good, in my opinion, as Brady. So it's nice we finally broke through at the Swinger and then we were able to do it again this week. ... Alex played so good all weekend; I was just happy to be able to help him out there when we needed it."
Shivers credited golf professional Leon Van Rensburg with helping him make swing corrections that have had him winning or in contention week-in, week-out for the past few years.
This time, not even 25 under par with birdies on the last three holes of regulation got him and Galyean into the winners' circle.
"I can't remember what usually wins this," Galyean said, "but 25-under for three days out here is a great score. We would've gladly taken 25-under and never teed it up and just seen who could compete with it. They played great as well and we just came up short."
The two teams charged into the playoff after a duel down the stretch. Galyean and Shivers birdied the last three holes for 7-under 65, and Bull birdied the next-to-last hole for 66. They'd started the final round one tee time apart on No. 10 and played the front nine last.
Galyean hit a wedge to 2 feet for birdie on No. 7, and Shivers followed with a 9-iron in to a foot on No. 8 for a tying birdie. Bull and Ellis, playing one group back in the final pairing, regained the lead when Bull's 9-iron on No. 8 settled 4 feet behind the hole.
"Definitely shot of the day," Ellis said.
Galyean forced the playoff on No. 9, sending a 7-iron pin high to 10 feet and making the putt.
Moments later, with a wedge in hand from 160 yards out, Bull came up well short and left. No big deal. His partner's approach was right on the money. But his partner never needed to putt.
"I did not hit a very good iron shot in," Bull said, "but it worked out."
"You rarely ever see a tournament end with a 50-footer," Ellis said. "It's a one-in-a-hundred putt. So it was kind of cool to watch that, and I was right by the hole in front of a bunch of people. Super happy for him."
THE PAR BUSTER PARTNERSHIP
at Lubbock Country Club
Par: 72-72-72-216
Saturday's Final-Round Results
Championship flight: 1. Alex Ellis-Cory Bull, 65-60-66-191 (won playoff on first hole); 2. Brady Shivers-Thumper Galyean, 62-64-65-191; 3. Nathan Weant-Robert Perry, 64-61-69-194; 4. Jace Moore-Robbe Trout, 63-63-69-194; 5. Cody King-Stefan Cronje, 66-64-68-198; 6. (tie) Jeremiah Luttrell-Brett Douglas, 66-69-67-202; Martin Board-Shawn Savage, 65-68-69-202; 8. Cameron Bergman-Phillip Ingram, 64-70-70-204; 9. (tie) Mason Couch-Ty Houtchens, 69-71-68-208; Curtis Harris-Jay McHugh, 66-70-72-208; Beau Burgess-Blake Ashcraft, 70-67-71-208; Michael Pruitt-Brad Gibson, 67-69-72-208; 13. (tie) Shaun Melville-Lynney Tucker, 72-71-68-211; Hunter Rawls-Randy Rawls, 68-66-77-211; 15. (tie) Chris Farah-Kyle Shuman, 66-73-73-212; John Cardinal-Scott Rundell, 71-66-75-212.
Presidents flight: 1. Erick Willcoxon-David Alderson, 66-66-69-201; 2. (tie) Tyler Chadwick-Tyler Sturdivant, 67-68-69-204; Barrett Gray-Chad Pickering, 68-63-73-204; 4. (tie) Kraig Lancaster-Bobby Brown, 71-69-68-208; Miles Seybert-Scott Kedy, 67-69-72-208; 6. Ross Tyler-Steven Watters, 66-69-74-209; 7. (tie) Will Wilkerson-Cameron Kirkpatrick, 70-70-71-211; Cole Roberts-Brad Ralston, 70-70-71-211.
First flight: 1. Blake Baucum-Mitchell Anderson, 70-68-69-207; 2. Cameron Kulbeth-Tres Lair, 67-71-71-209; 3. Trey Thompson-Brad Pitts, 72-69-74-215; 4. (tie) David Rogers-David Rogers Jr., 77-73-66-216; Alan Mendoza-Chance Cook, 74-70-72-216; Mark Meador-Chad Meador, 69-72-75-216.
Second flight: 1. Dustin Womble-Glenn Carter, 69-69-72-210; 2. Sam Holton-Michael Evans, 73-67-71-211; 3. (tie) Brandon Hamilton-Kerry Thompson, 71-72-72-215; Joel Landry-Brad Simnacher, 70-72-73-215; 5. (tie) Patrick Sturdivant-Marc Gilmour, 75-71-71-217; Everett Seymore-Josh White, 74-72-71-217.
Third flight: 1. John Zwiacher-David Zwiacher, 70-74-72-216; 2. Eric Sansom-Trent Black, 76-72-72-220; 3. Michael Byrne-Bryan Byrne, 73-76-73-222; 4. (tie) John Dutkowsky-John Casper, 76-72-76-224; Jeff Bartholomew-Eric McDonald, 72-72-80-224; 6. (tie) Matthew Anderson-David Scates, 76-73-76-225; Bob Ralston-Skip Martin, 70-70-85-225.
Fourth flight: 1. Cody Plank-Harrison Simonton, 69-71-73-213; 2. Dan Williams-Tyler Haynes, 75-73-75-223; 3. (tie) George Hardberger-James Hardberger, 76-75-76-227; Matthew Jordan-King Scovell, 72-77-78-227; 5. Anthony Durham-Stephen Manning, 76-75-78-229; 6. Peter Smith-Jason Moore, 79-75-76-230.
Fifth flight: 1. (tie) Nicholas Turner-Robert Salazar, 75-73-72-220; Colton Rockafellow-Mike Rockafellow, 71-71-78-220; 3. Greg Turner-Marcus Wooley, 74-70-78-222; 4. Brad Cochran-Rick Roden, 73-76-77-226; 5. Rob Dean-Rowdy Hartman, 80-73-78-231; 6. Jonathan Faulkner-Bryce Bowley, 74-78-81-233.
Sixth flight: 1. (tie) Kolby Kimbrough-Kyle Kimbrough, 76-80-74-230; Travis Hatch-Tyson Reed, 77-76-77-230; 3. Andy Aycock-Ray Salsky, 72-79-82-233; 4. Justin Veenendaal-Robert Boyce, 77-75-82-234; 5. Stephen Ogle-Jacob Kirkland, 81-77-78-236; 6. Scott Gibson-David Dupont, 76-79-82-237.
Seventh flight: 1. Keith Smith-Lance Kieth, 76-74-76-226; 2. (tie) Bill Eubanks-Zach Mulkey, 80-79-73-232; Roger Lowe-Ronnie Rogers, 80-77-75-232; 4. Craig Wallace-Hayden Wallace, 79-82-75-236; 5. Dustin Nicholas-Chad Reed, 79-81-87-247; 6. Sam Louder-Abel Castro, 84-78-86-248.
Eighth flight: 1. Bobby Smith-David Raines, 74-73-81-228; 2. Vincent Gonzalez-Parnell Stubblefield, 74-75-81-230; 3. Tim Moneymaker-Jason Summers, 81-77-80-238; 4. (tie) Toby Renfro-Daniel Horton, 78-77-84-239; Landon Hale-Jeremy Enloe, 76-80-83-239; 6. Jeff Griffin-Wilson Cash, 79-82-86-247.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Cory Bull's long birdie give him, Alex Ellis Par Buster win in playoff
