Bettencourt wins Reno-Tahoe Open by stroke
RENO – Matt Bettencourt will play in the PGA Championship for the first time thanks to an excellent eagle, pristine putting and a caddie who kept him calm.
That he shot 1-over on the back nine just made it dramatic when Bob Heintz missed a three-foot putt on No. 18 that would have forced a playoff in the Reno-Tahoe Open.
Instead, Bettencourt won for the first time on tour, shooting a 4-under 68 on Sunday that earned him a $540,000 check and an invite to Whistling Straits next month.
“I made some great up and downs,” Bettencourt said. “I feel like I’m as good of a bunker player as anybody in the world.”
After Bettencourt’s eagle on the par-5 11th, he closed with a birdie and two bogeys, including on No. 18. He also bogeyed the par-4 14th at Montreux Golf & Country Club.
The best putter at Reno all week, Bettencourt had 12 one-putts and only 24 total on Sunday. Bettencourt said a lot of the credit for keeping him calm down the stretch went to Matthew Achatz, his caddie on loan from Rocco Mediate while Mediate was working as a TV analyst at the British Open.
“Thank you, Rocco, for letting me use him,” Bettencourt said. “He made me believe in myself.”
Heintz, who shot a 69 Sunday, started the week trying to qualify for a Nationwide Tour event in Ohio before he was notified he’d qualified for Reno and hopped plane to Nevada on Tuesday.
“You hate to see somebody miss one like that at the end but at the same time I played well enough all week to win and didn’t feel like I was really getting the bounces I needed until today,” Bettencourt said. “I’m just so excited, I’ll take it any way you can.”
Heintz, a 40-year-old graduate of Yale with a degree in economics, was pleased to come away with $324,000 for finishing second.
“I think it’s my biggest check ever,” Heintz said. “I kind of played like the Bob of old where my survival instincts kicked in and my short game was just shy of brilliant all day. I holed out three times from off the green.”
John Merrick and Mathias Gronberg each shot 69 and tied for third at 9-under.
Robert Gamez (68), Kent Jones (68), Alex Cejka (69), Kevin Stadler (70) and Craig Barlow (72) all finished another stroke back at 8-under.
Bettencourt won the money title on the Nationwide Tour in 2008 and tied for 10th at the U.S. Open last year. He finished 111th on the PGA money list with $740,037 that year.
Bettencourt had a three-stroke lead with five holes to play Sunday but failed to get up and down out of a greenside bunker on the 491-yard 14th.
He drove into the rough left on the 477-yard par-4 15th and had to hook his approach around a tree 165 yards to just right of the green.
He chipped up to 6 feet and made the par putt and scrambled his way to another par on the par-3 16th when he missed the green off the tee, but chipped up to 8 feet.
On the 636-yard, par-5 17th, Bettencourt hit his second shot into a greenside bunker but blasted out to 5 feet and rolled in the birdie to get to 12-under, two strokes ahead of Heintz, who made an 8-foot birdie putt on the 17th to set up the drama on the final hole.
Earlier, Bettencourt chipped in from 10 feet away in the rough at the par-5 ninth for his third birdie of the day to make the turn with a one-stroke lead over Heintz.
On the 584-yard 11th, he hit his second shot 276 yards onto the edge of the green and made a 7-footer for eagle.
Scott McCarron, a former Reno resident and Montreux member who served as the tournament host, started the day at 10-under with a one-stroke lead over John Mallinger and Robert Garrigus. But he fell to a tie for 35th at 1 under with five bogeys and two double bogeys on the way to an 81.
Mallinger had a quadruple-bogey 9 on the 616-yard 9th – dropping twice from unplayable lies after driving wide left into the trees and sage brush – en route to a 77 and a tie for 21st.
PGA PGA Reno-Tahoe Open Scores
Sunday’s Final Round
At Montreux Golf and Country Club
Reno
Purse: $3 million
Yardage: 7,472; Par: 72
FedExCup points in parentheses
Matt Bettencourt (250), $540,000 66-68-75-68 – 277
Bob Heintz (0), $324,000 69-68-72-69 – 278
John Merrick (83), $174,000 69-68-73-69 – 279
Mathias Gronberg (83), $174,000 69-72-69-69 – 279
Robert Gamez (47), $101,700 76-68-68-68 – 280
Kent Jones (47), $101,700 73-72-67-68 – 280
Alex Cejka (47), $101,700 71-72-68-69 – 280
Kevin Stadler (47), $101,700 70-67-73-70 – 280
Craig Barlow (47), $101,700 69-72-67-72 – 280
Martin Flores (33), $69,000 74-70-68-69 – 281
Paul Stankowski (33), $69,000 71-70-70-70 – 281
Chris DiMarco (33), $69,000 67-71-72-71 – 281
Bill Lunde (33), $69,000 69-68-73-71 – 281
Robert Garrigus (33), $69,000 69-65-73-74 – 281
Kirk Triplett (28), $51,000 76-68-70-68 – 282
Mark Hensby (28), $51,000 69-73-69-71 – 282
Chad Campbell (28), $51,000 69-69-71-73 – 282
Will MacKenzie (26), $42,000 68-72-71-72 – 283
Steve Allan (0), $42,000 69-74-68-72 – 283
Stuart Appleby (26), $42,000 73-69-68-73 – 283
Todd Fischer (0), $31,200 69-70-75-70 – 284
Mark Wilson (24), $31,200 74-71-70-69 – 284
Steve Elkington (24), $31,200 69-73-70-72 – 284
Rod Pampling (24), $31,200 72-69-67-76 – 284
John Mallinger (24), $31,200 69-67-71-77 – 284
Len Mattiace (22), $22,200 78-65-71-71 – 285
Ben Fox (0), $22,200 73-71-69-72 – 285
J.J. Henry (22), $22,200 69-72-72-72 – 285
Tom Gillis (22), $22,200 73-72-73-67 – 285
Jonathan Kaye (22), $22,200 71-69-70-75 – 285
Steve Flesch (19), $18,188 74-71-69-72 – 286
Jeff Quinney (19), $18,188 72-69-70-75 – 286
Kevin Streelman (19), $18,188 69-72-76-69 – 286
Graham DeLaet (19), $18,188 70-76-62-78 – 286
Vaughn Taylor (17), $15,113 74-72-70-71 – 287
Aron Price (17), $15,113 70-71-71-75 – 287
Guy Boros (17), $15,113 72-73-75-67 – 287
Scott McCarron (17), $15,113 70-69-67-81 – 287
Woody Austin (14), $10,812 69-72-73-75 – 289
David Lutterus (14), $10,812 70-75-70-74 – 289
Seung-su Han (0), $10,812 72-71-72-74 – 289
Rich Barcelo (14), $10,812 71-69-75-74 – 289
Johnson Wagner (14), $10,812 75-72-69-73 – 289
Steve Wheatcroft (14), $10,812 74-67-71-77 – 289
Jim Carter (14), $10,812 69-76-71-73 – 289
Jarrod Lyle (14), $10,812 69-72-75-73 – 289
Garth Mulroy (14), $10,812 71-74-72-72 – 289
Kris Blanks (14), $10,812 71-72-76-70 – 289
James Nitties (11), $7,800 72-74-70-74 – 290
Greg Kraft (10), $7,305 72-71-71-77 – 291
Matt Hill (0), $7,305 70-75-71-75 – 291
John Rollins (10), $7,305 71-72-73-75 – 291
Henrik Bjornstad (10), $7,305 72-73-74-72 – 291
Josh Teater (9), $6,960 74-72-72-74 – 292
Craig Bowden (7), $6,810 68-72-75-78 – 293
Jeev Milkha Singh (7), $6,810 72-69-75-77 – 293
Mark Brooks (7), $6,810 74-70-74-75 – 293
Nicholas Thompson (7), $6,810 72-75-72-74 – 293
Omar Uresti (5), $6,540 70-75-72-77 – 294
Ted Purdy (5), $6,540 73-74-71-76 – 294
Brent Delahoussaye (5), $6,540 77-69-72-76 – 294
Willie Wood (5), $6,540 76-70-73-75 – 294
Skip Kendall (5), $6,540 75-70-74-75 – 294
Charles Warren (4), $6,360 70-75-75-75 – 295
Vance Veazey (3), $6,270 75-71-70-81 – 297
Cliff Kresge (3), $6,270 70-70-79-78 – 297
Roger Tambellini (2), $6,150 71-72-78-77 – 298
Robin Freeman (2), $6,150 73-71-78-76 – 298
Dicky Pride (1), $6,030 72-69-76-82 – 299
Mike Small (0), $6,030 73-74-76-76 – 299
Matt Every (0), $5,940 75-68-84-77 – 304
Support Local Journalism
Support Local Journalism
Readers around the Lake Tahoe Basin and beyond make the Tahoe Tribune's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.
Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.
Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.
Start a dialogue, stay on topic and be civil.
If you don't follow the rules, your comment may be deleted.
User Legend: Moderator
Trusted User
South Tahoe man arrested for alleged assault of a minor, woman
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — After forcing his way into a home, a local man was arrested this week for an alleged assault of a woman and minor.