FAIRLEE — Garth McGee was just trying to hang in as long as he could.
Through two rounds of the Jeff Julian Memorial Vermont Open Championship at Lake Morey Resort and Country Club, McGee sat in a tie for fifth place at 139 strokes, one under par. The first two days were frustrating for him, as he didn’t convert several putts.
But he had faith that his competition would miss some shots in the final round.
McGee surged to victory during the final round on Wednesday thanks to a strong performance on the back nine. He finished at 208 total, two strokes under par and two ahead of second-place finisher Tee Opperman.
As the last round progressed, McGee began checking the live leaderboard on his phone after every hole. He wasn’t afraid that the pressure would get to him.
“I was looking back just to see what was going on,” McGee said. “I was playing pretty well, and I didn’t mind knowing where I was. The finish is kind of tough, and I just tried to make it as easy as possible on myself.”
McGee earned $5,000 for the victory, the first of his professional career.
McGee, a Northern Ireland native currently residing in Lincoln, Mass., took a six-year break from playing professional golf before restarting in November. He said this victory justified his decision to
“I’m still a little shell-shocked,” McGee said. “Got a picture there from my wife. Mom and Dad are crying, she’s crying. So it’ll be fun to speak to everybody. It’s great. I’m looking forward to getting some sleep as well.”
Opperman (Pawleys Island, S.C.) was at 135 strokes, five under par, and was atop the leaderboard heading into the final round. He shot a 34 on the front nine of the final round — one stroke better than McGee. But he fell apart on the back nine, shooting a 41, bogeying four holes and double bogeying another. He finished the tournament at 210, or even with par.
Opperman said he let nerves get the best of him, knowing he had a lead. He made some mistakes and let them compound on each other, and he lost his composure.
“I was struggling the whole way. Just nervous the whole time,” Opperman said. “I knew I was in the lead the whole time. And once I started falling away, I looked at my score. I knew I was fine, but just got in a bad frame of mind.”
Opperman said, in hindsight, he wished he didn’t check the leaderboard and just focused on his own game. But he added that finishing in second is a solid result, and is focusing on how well he played until the final nine holes.
Round one leader Matthew Campbell finished tied for third place with amateurs Ryan Kohler, Maxwell Ferrari, Will Frodigh, and Bryson Richards at 211 strokes, one over par.
Campbell shot a 67, three under par, in the first round, but finished over par in the second and third rounds.
Frodigh was tied for second after the first round at two-under par. He made up the stroke on Campbell in the final round.
Ferrari, who is teammates with Frodigh on the men’s golf team at Elon University, finished one stroke over par on Monday. But he shot one under par in round two and even with par in round three to catch up.
Kohler made a significant climb up the leaderboard on Wednesday. After shooting 72 and 74 in rounds one and two, he posted a 65, five under par, in the final round.
Seth Tow can be contacted at stow@vnews.com.