Albright & Letterly Take Home the Crown in Ocala
OCALA, Fla. – After three playoff holes, Steve Albright & Jimmy Letterly would claim victory at the Country Club of Ocala in this year’s Forty & Over Four-Ball Championship. This marks the duo’s second victory in this championship, after winning in 2020.
After a soggy start on Saturday morning, our 100 competitors teed it up an hour later than planned, in hopes of capturing this year’s Forty & Over Four-Ball Championship. With the wet conditions and rain still coming down, not many teams were able to get off to a strong start. Brian Keenan & Mike Finster would rattle off three birdies in their first four holes to control the leaderboard early. They finished the day at five under total and in second place heading into Sunday. Our defending champions, Joe Alfieri & Daniel DeBra, who were in our final group of the day, got off to the best start, turning at four-under par. They would ultimately finish the day in a tie for third place at that number, not finding much success in their final nine holes. Our leaders after round one were the team of Rod Bayliss & Drew Ditty, who had a combined seven birdies in their effort to post a six-under 66 to hold a one-shot lead.
It became a two-team race down the stretch on Sunday afternoon between Keenan/Finster and Steve Albright & Jimmy Letterly, who got in the mix early. The two teams traded birdies hole after hole. With three holes remaining, Keenan/Finster held on to a one-shot lead at 11-under par. A birdie on hole 18 by Letterly, and a par from Finster would force a playoff. Both teams would tie with pars on the first two playoff holes. On the par-five 10th hole, Albright would drain a 15-foot birdie putt to give himself and Letterly the impressive win. Albright would end up shooting a six-under 66 on his own ball in regulation, but Letterly provided the most important birdie of the day to allow the chance to earn their second victory in this championship.
