McCann makes no mistake this time
Brian McCann won the 2008 Bermuda Open at Tucker's Point, and buried some past demons in the process.
The Canadian went into yesterday's final round with a four-shot lead over Swede Henrik Engdahl, and with both shooting a one-under par 69, McCann finished the day exactly as he had started it, on top.
It wasn't all plain sailing for McCann however, with Engdahl managing to get within two strokes at one stage. And after a week of battling the elements, McCann had to battle his own inner demons in the final round.
Last year the Canadian went into the last day of the Goslings tournament at Belmont Hills with a four-shot lead, and saw it slip away, eventually finishing second.
"The conditions were a little bit easier," said McCann. "I went in with a four-shot lead (in the Goslings) last year, I got off to a bad start and the other guy started playing better, so my lead evaporated really quickly.
'So I just said to myself 'just to play solid, hit fairways and greens, and if he (Engdahl) is going to beat me, let him beat me, I don't want to beat myself'.
"I played really solid, I was one-under on the front, birdied 10, to go to two-under and that gave me a five-shot lead. And then he made a tremendous shot on 11, he holed out of a bunker for birdie and I left my bunker shot in the bunker and made double-bogey and all of a sudden my five-shot lead went to two.
"A five-shot lead is pretty comfortable, and I knew I was playing pretty well, I was in control of my game pretty much for all four days, but when it got down to two, now the pressure started to build up again.
"I handled it really well, I didn't hit a couple of really good shots, at 12 and 13, but made two good pars. At 15 I got a little bit unlucky, I hit a really good second shot into the par-five and it rolled all the way off the green into the bunker and I got it up and down for birdie, and he three-putted for par, so my lead went back up again.
"I felt pretty much in control of the ball all four days, I had a lot of bad breaks early in the week, and I might have got them back later on, which was good. But I played four good rounds of golf, three of them were in blustery conditions, but I felt pretty good about it.
"I would have liked to have maybe shot four-under to get it back to even par (for the tournament). Someone wins a tournament at four-over par, people think 'oh these guys aren't very good', but if anyone was to have played in this wind on the second or third round, jeez!
"My ball plays relatively low to begin with, and I've played in the wind my whole life. When I heard the conditions after the first day were going to intensify, I felt fine, I know my game is good in the wind, and it showed."
McCann plans on returning to Bermuda next week for the Goslings tournament at Belmont Hills, and after the events of the last week, will certainly be among the favourites to win the event.
The rather calmer conditions on the last day made the prospect of an upset unlikely, and in the event, McCann, Engdahl, and Ed Kirby finished the day as they began it – first, second and third, respectively.
Of the three, Kirby was in the most danger of losing his position, but a final round 71 kept him a shot ahead of Craig Marseilles, who hit a level-par 70 to finish fourth overall.
Top Bermudian was Tucker's Point pro Andrew Trott who carded 71 yesterday to finish on 299, two shots ahead of former winner Dwayne Pearman (74) and Camiko Smith (71) who both ended the 72-hole tournament on 301.
The Goslings Invitational is scheduled to start on December 1.