FAYETTEVILLE — A strong start and an even stronger finish left no doubt in the winner’s bracket of the Championship Flight at the Fayetteville Country Club 4-Ball Invitational.
Craig McCullough and J.C. DeLeon, best friends since their teenage childhood days together in Tulsa, Okla., roared through the first two days of match play competition Friday and Saturday to advance to Sunday’s stroke play final round in the best ball, two-player team tournament.
Once there, McCullough and DeLeon set the tone with a birdie on the par 5 first hole and another on the par 5 fifth. After finishing the front nine at 4-under par, the pair leveled off before finishing birdie, birdie, birdie on holes 16, 17 and 18 to finish with a 7-under 63 for a convincing four-stroke victory in the winner’s bracket.
“I think we made just one bogey the entire tournament, and we started today off hot,” DeLeon said. “I think I could have been 4-under through five on my own ball, and Craig was right there, too. Then he made his birdie putt on 17, which was huge. Drew Stewart and Sawyer Radler were the closest team to make a run at the winners. Stewart and Radler briefly got to 3-under midway through their round, but back-to-back bogies on the par 4 11th and par 3 12th made their deficit too much to overcome.
“J.C. and I have been best friends since we were little kids, and he lives in Kansas City now, so anytime we get to play golf together, we really enjoy it,” McCullough said. “Both of us had high expectations coming in, and we just had a blast.
“We missed winning it last year by just a little bit, so this was fun.”
Michael Chaney and Brett Granata, the winners from the 2012 FCC 4-Ball, matched McCullough and DeLeon with the low score in the championship flight in the final round. But Chaney and Granata’s score of 63 was only good for third overall in the tournament as they were playing in the consolation after losing in match play Friday.