VANCOUVER - Five shots down with four holes remaining, Jeevan Sihota had pretty much given up hope of winning the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open.
“Literally, I was playing for second,” the 21-year-old Victoria resident conceded. However, the craziest finish in the history of the Vancouver Golf Tour’s flagship event changed everything, as Sihota earned his eighth win in 13 VGT starts this year.
Sihota took advantage of a couple of stumbles by leader Bryce Barker of Vernon and then had to survive one of his own on the 18th hole to claim the $12,000 first-place cheque.
The drama began on Fraserview Golf Course’s par 4 15th hole, where Barker’s tee shot bounced out of the trees and into the right rough. From there, he had to lay up and the Vernon Golf Club member then pitched his third shot onto the green.
After Barker missed his 20-footer for par, Sihota rolled in a short birdie putt. What looked like a two-shot swing became three when Barker then missed a three-footer for bogey.
That five-shot lead was now two and became one when Sihota birdied the par 3 16th. Both players made a par on No. 17, setting the stage for some real drama on the par 5 18th hole.
Sihota striped his drive right down the middle and the left-handed Barker followed by slicing his tee shot out of bounds. After putting his provisional into play, Barker hit his fourth shot just over the back edge of the green.
Sihota had 217 yards left for his second shot and had an iffy lie. “I was actually in a divot in the fairway on the last hole,” he said. “I felt like I had to go for it and I just caught it a little heavy.”
Bryce Barker Tees Off In The Vancouver Open - Image Credit Brad Ziemer/BC Golf
His second shot, a five-iron, ended up in the environmental area fronting Fraserview’s 18th green. “It sucked in the moment, but I knew I was still in it,” Sihota said. “I was just trying to get in a playoff at that point.”
He had 99 yards to the pin from the drop area and Sihota stuck his wedge two feet left of the pin. Now the pressure was back on Barker, who had to get up and down from about 20 feet to likely force a playoff.
His ball had settled in the rough just beyond the fringe and he chose to try and putt it. He caught it heavy and the ball barely trickled onto the green, leaving him with a 15-footer for bogey. Barker missed it and made a double. Sihota then tapped in his two-footer for par and the most unlikely of wins.
“You just never want to see anyone do that,” Sihota said of Barker’s struggles. “It’s hard, I have had some collapses myself in the past. I was lucky, plain and simple. Yeah, I made a couple of birdies coming in, but I probably shouldn’t have won this one. But we’ll take it.”
Siohota closed with a four-under 68 and his 54-hole total of 18-under tied the tournament record. “I have had a really good year and I am playing the best golf of my life,” Sihota said. “I was pretty tired today. I have played a lot of golf over the last four weeks. I wasn’t hitting it the best, but we got it around.”
Barker, who opened the tourney with a course record 61 at McCleery Golf Course, earned $6,000 for second place. Coquitlam’s Henry Lee was third at 16-under and made $4,000.
Vancouver’s Jessica Ng won the Women’s Championship with a four-under total. Ng, a member of the UBC golf team, closed with a five-under 67. Vancouver’s Victoria Liu was the low women’s professional at three-under.
Click HERE for complete final scoring from the Vancouver Open.