Publications
Partners
Los Angeles - Andrew Putnam had five birdies and just one bogey on Sunday as he wrapped up his first PGA Tour title at the Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nevada.
Putnam, who played on the tour in 2015 but spent last season on the developmental Web.com tour, started the day with a three-point lead over Sam Saunders in the tournament that uses the Modified Stableford scoring format.
Players get eight points for an albatross, five for an eagle, two for a birdie and zero for par with a point subtracted for a bogey and three points docked for double bogey or worse, with Putnam amassing nine points on Sunday to finish with a total of 47.
He needed only a bogey at the last to win, but finished off with a 22-foot birdie putt from off the green at the 18th hole at Montreaux Golf and Country Club.
The gives Putnam a $612 000 winner's prize, a two-year tour exemption and a berth in the final major of the year, the PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri, next week.
Chad Campbell was second with 43 points, nabbing 11 on Sunday.
Sam Saunders, who started the day three off the lead, finished with a round worth minus-1, finishing tied for seventh.
Putnam, a 29-year-old from Tacoma, Washington, said he wasn't exactly "expecting" to win, with his focus on keeping his tour card after his spell on the Web.com tour.
Nevertheless, he had been encouraged by his recent results and had high hopes coming into the tournament played opposite the elite World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational in Ohio, where the world's top-ranked players were competing.
"I've been playing really good the last couple of months,"
said Putnam, who had a runner-up finish at the FedEx St. Jude Classic and tied for eighth at the Canadian Open.
"I felt like I was one of the favorites coming into this tournament, felt like if I played my game I had a chance."
Leading point totals after Sunday's final round of the PGA Barracuda Championship, which uses a Modified Stableford scoring system that awards eight points for an albatross, five for an eagle, two for a birdie, zero for par, minus one for a bogey and minus three for any worse score; USA unless noted):
47 - Andrew Putnam 6 17 15 9
43 - Chad Campbell 6 4 22 11
37 - John Oda 7 9 13 8, J.J. Spaun 7 12 10 8
36 - Ollie Schniederjans 17 8 1 10
35 - William McGirt 6 2 7 20
34 - Chris Stroud 7 6 13 8, Sam Saunders 10 13 12 -1
33 - Vaughn Taylor 2 6 10 15, Brandon Harkins 5 13 3 12
32 - Hudson Swafford 12 10 -1 11, C.T. Pan (TPE) 7 8 6 11, Ben Silverman (CAN) 11 8 3 10, Derek Fathauer 6 14 5 7
31 - D.J. Trahan 8 10 -3 16, John Merrick 11 12 -3 11, Ethan Tracy 9 6 8 8, Matt Jones (AUS) 10 10 4 7, Martin Laird (SCO) 9 8 9 5, Michael Thompson 10 3 13 5, Shane Lowry (IRL) 10 12 8 1
