The 1990 Florida Open Championship at Palm Beach Polo & CC.

Dudley Hart

Hard-luck Hart Takes Florida Open In Playoff

^{Miami Herald

July 30, 1990}

Dudley Hart didn't win a tournament the past four years as a golfer for the University of Florida. He finished second and third enough times to begin reminding himself of the PGA Tour's tough-luck boy Payne Stewart.

So when he showed up at Palm Beach Polo and Country Club Sunday for the final round of the $65,000 Cadillac Florida Open, Hart didn't know what to expect. Hart, who began the day two strokes behind leaders Jay Townsend and Dennis Postlewait, thought he had a shot to win his first tournament as a professional. But a bogey at No. 5 left him five shots back and Hart prepared for another top-five finish.

Then Hart's putter came to life and he birdied six of the final 10 holes to tie Townsend at 12-uner-par 276 at the end of regulation on the ther-72, 7,050-yard course. And when Townsend missed a nine-footer for par on the first playoff hole, Hart became the surprise owner of the $10,663 winner's check.

"You keep thinking about when a victory is going to come," said Hart, 21, who lives in Fort Lauderdale and attended Miami's Curley High. "But I came here to win, not just play decent in my first pro tournament."

That's why he was angry at himself when he walked to the ninth tee Sunday trailing Townsend by five. Hart didn't feel in control of his game. At the eighth hole, he knocked a 5-iron left of the green and forced himself to sink an eight-footer for par to simply keep from falling further off the pace.

"I was really struggling," said Hart, who was an NCAA All-American after finishing 12th in last year's NCAA Championships. "I didn't know where I was hitting it. I just didn't have it."

It had become clear to him that Townsend and Postlewait, who took turns holding the lead, weren't going to retreat. That thinking turned out to be sound. Townsend ended up with a round of 69 and didn't make bogey until the playoff hole when he pulled an 8-iron and had to chip from a lie up against the greenside rough. Postlewait was playing steadily in a round of 72, which would give him third.

So Hart did the only thing he could in such a gloomy situation. He started swinging for flagsticks.

He birdied the ninth hole after knocking a wedge to 20 feet. Then he chipped to three feet at the par-five 11th and calmly stroked that putt in for birdie.

The key to his charge came at the par-three 13th, where he had a 228-yard shot into the wind. He pulled a 1-iron from his bag, then reconsidered. Hart settled on a 3-wood and hit it to 10 feet. When he made that birdied and trailed by only two, Hart realized he was back in the running.

"It wasn't all that easy anymore," he said. "You feel like you're one of the leaders, which is a lot different than being five back. But you know what, I'd rather be in that position. There's no guarantee you're going to make all those birdies."

It took three more to get Hart even with Townsend. He knocked a wedge to 20 feet and made the putt at No. 16. At the par-five 17th, he hit his third shot from a greenside bunker to four feet for another birdie. Then on the final hole, he made birdie from six feet after a purely stroked 8-iron. "He made an awful lot of putts," said Townsend, who needed a 12-footer for par at the final hole to make the playoff. "When you make putts like that, you're going to beat a guy who is just hitting greens and making pars."

Pos.	Name	Rd. 1	2	3	4	Total
T1	Dudley Hart, Fort Lauderdale	69	70	70	67	276
T1	Jay Townsend, Tequesta	69	70	69	69	276
3	Dennis Postlewait, Winter Springs	70	68	69	72	279
4	Bart Bryant, Winter Garden	69	71	69	71	280
T5	S. Rachels, D'Fnk Springs	72	71	69	69	281
T5	Skip Kendall, Orlando	70	71	71	69	281
T5	Dan Wood, Winter Springs	71	71	69	70	281
T5	Gus Holbrook, Orlando	71	70	70	70	281
T5	Dean Hiers, Bartow	69	70	70	72	281
T10	Bill Belk, Lakeland	71	72	70	69	282
T10	Mark Bucek, Winter Springs	70	72	70	70	282
T10	Ron Terry, Tampa	74	66	72	70	282
T13	Eric Brito, Lakeland	71	71	71	70	283
T13	Glenn Gabriel, Spring Hill	66	76	67	72	283
T13	Bruce Fleisher, N. Miami	69	71	71	72	283
T16	Jeff Clark, Deerfield Beach	72	67	78	67	284
T16	Christopher Brooks, West Palm Beach	66	75	74	69	284
T18	Greg Kraft, Clearwater	70	72	77	66	285
T18	Tom Cleaver, Boca Ration	75	71	70	69	285
T18	Jim Ragland, Jacksonville	71	71	72	71	285
T18	Rick Nichols, Ft. Myers	70	71	71	73	285
T22	Randy Mullen, Coral Springs	69	74	73	70	286
T22	Rick Gomez, Tequesta	70	72	74	70	286
T22	Bob Carson, Titusville	72	69	74	71	286
T25	Antonio Cerda, Titusville	73	71	75	68	287
T25	Jeff Butler, Coral Springs	73	73	72	69	287
T25	Adrian Stills, Orlando	76	71	71	69	287
T25	Mark Turlington, Tampa	69	74	73	71	287
T25	Michael Brisky, Orlando	69	73	74	71	287
T25	Fred Griffin, Winter Park	71	73	68	75	287
T31	John Meade, DeBary	74	74	71	69	288
T31	Barney Thompson, Ormond Beach	74	71	73	70	288
T31	Dennis Zinkon, Haines City	75	71	69	73	288
T34	Drue Johnson, Tarpon Woods	73	71	75	70	289
T34	Tim Krapfel, Orlando	73	72	72	72	289
T34	Mark Leetzow, Sarasota (a)	70	73	74	72	289
T34	R. Kennedy, Pompano	73	72	71	73	289
T34	Ron Philo, Ponte Vedra	71	69	72	77	289
T39	Bill Murchison, Orlando	76	71	73	68	290
T39	Brien Paquette, Vero Beach	69	78	74	69	290
T39	Jay Kennedy, Maitland	73	73	73	71	290
T39	David Smith, Longwood (a)	74	72	73	71	290
T39	Jay Cooper, Longwood	66	77	73	72	290
T39	Martin Stanovich, Tamarac	74	72	71	73	290
T39	John Restino, Palm Beach Gardens	71	75	71	73	290
T39	John Nagel, Lake Worth (a)	72	72	70	76	290
T39	Paul Perini, Hollywood	71	72	70	77	290
T48	Scott Behl, Lakeland	73	73	74	71	291
T48	A.J. Duncan, Naples	72	77	71	71	291
T48	Todd McCorkle, Orlando	72	74	74	71	291
T51	Victor Leoni, North Miami Beach	72	76	72	72	292
T51	Chris Campbell, Vero Beach	75	74	71	72	292
T51	Wally Kucher, Apopka	72	73	74	73	292
T51	Arthur Weber, Englewood	70	76	73	73	292
T51	Scott Pleis, Sarasota	73	70	73	76	292
T56	Blake Mustain II, Boca Ration	74	72	74	73	293
T56	Kyle Coles, West Palm Beach	78	69	73	73	293
T56	David Seeman Jr., Orlando	75	70	74	74	293
T56	Michael Anderson, Boca Ration	70	75	72	76	293
T56	Mike Wright, Sarasota	72	75	69	77	293
T61	Greg Crak, Palm Beach Gardens (a)	73	73	78	70	294
T61	John Pettit, Winter Springs (a)	75	73	76	70	294
T61	Rick Woulfe, Fort Lauderdale (a)	75	72	75	72	294
T61	Steve Minelli, Orlando	71	76	72	75	294
T61	Rick Hendershot, Longwood	71	74	74	75	294
T61	Brian Peaper, Jupiter	73	72	71	78	294
T61	Ronnie Springer, West Palm Beach	74	69	73	68	294
T68	Jay Murray, Boca Raton	71	77	74	73	295
T68	Donnie Totten, Bradenton Beach	75	71	75	74	295
T68	Dan St. Louis, West Palm Beach	71	75	74	75	295
T71	Hunt Gilliland, Tequesta	74	72	77	73	296
T71	John Adcock, Valrico (a)	75	74	72	75	296
T73	Gary Baker, Homestead	73	76	77	71	297
T73	M. McBroom, Ft. Myers	72	73	78	74	297
T73	Will Neel, Orlando	72	75	76	74	297
T73	Will Frantz, Sarasota	70	75	77	75	297
T73	W. Mitchell, Ormond Beach	72	74	72	79	297
T78	C. Hehman, Orlando	76	73	75	75	299
T78	Donnie S. Green, Fort Lauderdale	75	73	70	81	299
T80	Dave Gabbert, Madeira Beach	76	72	76	76	300
T80	Jimmie Wright, West Palm Beach	74	75	74	77	300
82	Greg Cerulli, Port St. Lucie	73	73	77	78	301
83	Jeff Thorsen, Jacksonville	72	74	78	78	302
T84	Frank Reynolds, Oldsmar	73	75	77	78	303
T84	Michael O'Brien, Coral Springs	74	73	76	80	303

Processing your payment, please wait.

1990 Florida Open - Palm Beach Polo & CC

Dudley Hart

Hard-luck Hart Takes Florida Open In Playoff

Pos.

Name

Rd. 1

2

3

4

Total

Preserving & Protecting the Game Since 1913