Selma Country Club’s Regan wins national golf championship

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Jason Regan rallied from four shots back at the start of the final round to win the 2007 Golf Course Superintendents Association of America National Championship on the Pete Dye Challenge Course at Mission Hills Country Club.

Regan, the GCSAA Class A superintendent at Selma (Ala.) Country Club, fired a 1-under-par 71 in the final round Tuesday, the only player in the championship field to record an under-par score in the final round. Second-round leader Paul Jett, Certified Golf Course Superintendent at Pinehurst (N.C.) No. 2, slipped to second place with a 77 on Tuesday.

Playing in the next-to-last group, Regan came out of the blocks quickly and erased Jett's four-shot advantage by going out in 1-under-par 35, while Jett shot a 6-over-par 40 on the front nine. Regan's lead grew to two shots through much of the back nine before Jett mounted a furious comeback attempt. He birdied both the par-5 16th and the par-3 17th to close to within one shot heading to the final hole. But on 18, he missed a 12-foot birdie putt that would have sent the tournament into a playoff and settled for a runner-up finish, the fifth time Jett has finished second in this event.

Regan's three-day total of 3-over-par 219 (76-72-71) was two shots better than Jett (74-70-77) and Robert Harper (76-72-73), GCSAA Class A superintendent at The Club at Emerald Hills in Hollywood, Fla., who both finished at 221. Shawn Westacott, GCSAA superintendent at Riverhill Country Club in Kerrville, Texas, was alone in fourth at 223 (78-71-74).

Regan started slowly in the final round, bogeying the par-4 second hole. But he birdied the par-4 fifth and the par-5 ninth to get to 1-under at the turn. On the back nine, he canceled out his bogey on the par-4 10th hole with a birdie on the par-4 15th, then parred the final three holes to secure the victory.