Imagine standing in the fairway of the final hole of the final event of the season. You're two shots off the lead. The only way to win is to hole out for eagle.
Seems daunting, doesn't it? Apparently it wasn't for Eugene Wong.
Wong holed out his second shot with a 9-iron from 133 yards for eagle 2 on the 18th hole at Scarboro G&CC in Toronto, going from down a shot to the champion on the final hole of the Canadian Tour Championship.
“The funny story behind it is I told my caddie, ‘It would be nice if I holed this one,’" Wong said, according to SCORE Golf. "And he said, ‘Yeah, it would be nice. Take dead aim.’ And I said, ‘Ok, I’ll take dead aim at it.’ And I happened to make it. We were both shocked. We said, ‘Did that just happen? We just talked about it and now we actually did it.’”
The two-hop dunk gave Wong a final-round 67, taking him to 14 under and a one-shot victory over playing partner Joe Panzeri, who matched Wong on Sunday with a 4-under round.
A native of Vancouver, the rookie Wong got into the field of the tour's penultimate event on a sponsor's invitation. He shared the 54-hole lead heading into the final day, making an eagle three at the par-5 first. Quite a bookend on the other side of the round, eh?
Wong won in just his third Canadian Tour event after turning pro following a distinguished career at the University of Oregon, including winning the 2010 Jack Nicklaus award as the best collegiate player in the United States.
“To be my third tournament on the Canadian Tour, to win this? It’s too unreal right now,” Wong said. “Maybe in the next few days it will finally settle in.”
The 21-year-old earned $16,000 for the win and has a place to play in Canada for the next two years.
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