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ATB FINANCIAL CLASSIC PRESENTED BY TELUS
Edmonton, Alberta - She may be 114 years old. But even when she's not all gussied up the way she was in her emerald green dress, she's a beauty. And if she could cook, Dustin Risdon would probably marry her.
"Yeah, she's been pretty good to me," Risdon said after running away with the $250,000 ATB Financial Classic, presented by TELUS, at the venerable Edmonton Country Club - the second straight time he's won a Canadian Tour event at this course, the last one back in 2007.
"I don't know; I don't find her very difficult," said Risdon, who ended up 17-under for the four days.
Sunday's final round of the ATB Financial Classic started off as a three-man race with Risdon at 12-under par and Abbotsford, B.C.'s young Adam Hadwin and Montreal's Yohann Benson both at 10-under. But Benson got left at the gate when he made four bogeys for a front nine of 40 while Risdon cruised the first lap with a 4-under 32 and Hadwin tried to stay close with a 3-under 33.
Hadwin, however, never got any closer finishing four-shots back. It was another four shots back to find Oshawa's Derek Gillespie and Ottawa's Lee Curry, who tied for third. With two other Ottawa players, Brad Fritsch and Scott Hawley, part of a trio tied for fifth, it was an All-Canada Leaderboard.
"I couldn't hit my wedges close enough and when I did (Dustin) would make a putt on me. I never could get any momentum," said Hadwin, 22, who finished at 13-under. "(Dustin) won the golf tournament. I didn't lose it." No doubt about that.
Risdon, who has been playing on the Nationwide, should have been on Jeopardy because whatever Hadwin did, Risdon had an answer. On No. 11 Risdon was buried in the rough. "Deep rough," said Risdon, who also won the ATB Financial when it was played in Calgary two years ago.
Hadwin was on the green, albeit facing a long putt. Risdon flopped it up to a couple of feet. "Unbelievable; I couldn't even believe I did that," said Risdon. On No. 12, Risdon hit a 4-iron off the tee while Hadwin 'tanked a drive 340 yards' leaving him just 36 yards to the pin.
"And I couldn't get it inside 10 feet and then I can't make that putt," said Hadwin.
"I had a chance to cut (the lead) to three shots and get some momentum going. I couldn't. "Whenever I needed to make the putts I couldn't."And whenever Risdon needed to get up and down he did.
Like on No. 13 when he made a flop shot to within two feet of a scary pin.
Meanwhile, Hadwin, stuck on the face of a bunker, couldn't get up and down and now the lead was five. Game. Set and match.
Risdon thought so too.
Walking down the 14th fairway he said to his caddie, Dale Vallely "I'm getting some bad thoughts. "Dale said 'What's going on?' and I said 'I'm thinking about my speech already. "Dale said what are you thinking about. We've got five holes left. "I don't know what I was thinking," said Risdon. "I got over the ball and said 'Ok, let's get this straight. We haven't won this yet but I knew how big that putt was on 13. A five-shot lead with five to go."
Even the next two holes showed that no matter what Hadwin did, Risdon had the ready retort straight to Hadwin's heart. On No. 15, Risdon pulled his drive and after punching through some pines left his approach about 10 yards short of the green. With Hadwin on in two, Risdon bumped a low running 56-degree wedge - uphill with about 10 feet of break - to maybe a foot.
Then on the tough 16th hole Risdon elected to go with a 40-iron that left him 230 yards from the flag. Hadwin, meanwhile, brought out his driver and cranked it to within 95 yards of the stick.
Didn't matter. Risdon still ended up closer.
"I played a lot of good scrambling shots that saved me a lot of pars," said Risdon. "When you play bogey free in a final round you are usually going to get it done." Even with a four-shot lead on the final tee box, Risdon wasn't finished with his 'bad thoughts.' A sudden storm was throwing down torrents of rain and the wind was blowing hard into their faces.
"I had a shank come into my head for a bit," said Risdon. "I was thinking what if I shank this out of bounds. Especially after Adam hit. It was money. Then Yohann said 'Go in,' and I thought 'Is he going to make a hole-in-one on me now because you couldn't see through the rain."
Nope.
It was Risdon's tournament to win and he did just that. Still, as much as he loves the Country Club he said "I definitely wouldn't have won if it was a Nationwide event. At least that's the way I like to think because I'm always striving to be better. If I thought 'Oh, yeah, I would have won a Nationwide event too, I might have got smashed."I feel I could have obviously been better this week. "Dale and I talked about it all week. We couldn't believe guys weren't going lower. I figure 25-under would win in a Nationwide. The level of play is so much stronger out there."
That's where Risdon will be again next week. Playing in the Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic. And guess who will be there with him. Yup. Hadwin, who received one of the five Canadian Tour exemptions.
Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic Presented by Samsung Exemptions:
Brock Mackenzie
Adam Hadwin
Dustin Risdon
Aaron Goldberg
Rob Grube
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