The FSGA went south this weekend for the 68th Four-Ball Championship. Held at Trump National Doral in Miami, 48 two-man teams teed it up Saturday morning hoping to conquer the difficult Blue Monster course and come out on the top of the leaderboard.
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Coming into the first round, the early favorite was the Alfieri team of Joe and Cade. Joe Alfieri was already a three-time Four-Ball Champion when he won with then-partner, Doug LaCrosse from 1999-2001. Another team who could possibly finish on top was Tiger Godwin and Kelly Sellers. Godwin and Sellers played together and finished runner-up in last year's Four-Ball Championship.
The first round of competition Saturday morning took place on the Golden Palm course and proved to be slightly the easier of the two courses. Two teams posted 66's and were tied at the top of the leaderboard after day one. The two-man dream team of reigning Player of the Year, Joe Alfieri and his son Cade posted one of the leading 66's while the second 66 was shot by Garrett Morrison and Lucas Carpenter of Jacksonville and St. Cloud, respectively. Closely behind the Alfieri and Morrison/Carpenter teams after shooting a 67 in the first round was the Godwin/Sellers team. Tiger Godwin of Fort Meade and Kelly Sellers of Lakeland started off a little shaky with a bogey on the par-5 fifth hole, but bounced back with six birdies and just one additional bogey on 17 to finish their first round with a four-under par round of 67.
With 32 teams finishing the first round either even or under par, Sunday's finishing round on the Blue Monster was guaranteed to be a show with lots of moving around on the leaderboard. The two man team of Godwin and Sellers came out of the gate strong with a birdie on the first hole yet with a bogey on the fourth, they would drop back to even-par for the round. Their turning point in the round, however, came on the sixth hole where they would birdie hole six, eagle hole seven, and birdie hole eight to move dramatically up the leaderboard at the turn. Going out in a four-under par, 32, Sellers and Godwin made one birdie followed by one bogey to finish their concluding nine holes at even-par. Their second round total of four-under par, 68, paired with their first round score of 67 finished them at 135 and good enough to take the championship by two shots.
Finishing alone in second place was the father-son team of Joe and Cade Alfieri. Leading after the first round, the Alfieri's struggled the second round and shot just one-under par to finish the tournament at 137, two back. Rounding out the top three was the two man of Christian Bosso of Orlando and 99th Amateur Champion, Jacob Huizinga of Pensacola. The Bosso/Huizinga duo played consistently throughout the entire event and posted consecutive 69's to finish alone in third.
Even though Godwin and Sellers four-ball score of 135 might have been good enough to win the tournament, it was the highest winning score relative to par since 2006, proving Trump National Doral put even the most talented golfers to the test.
