Matt Donovan

Donovan fires scintillating 63 to capture GBO

Cleveland star earns 1^st win as a professional

Bangor, ME-Welcome to the club, Matt. After numerous near misses and dozens of frustrating finishes, Matt Donovan has broken through and captured his first victory as a professional. Relying on the strength of his putter, Donovan closed with a sizzling 6-under par 63, including a clutch birdie on the closing hole, in the final round of the 38^th Greater Bangor Open for a one shot victory over fellow Cleveland Tour member Justin Goodhue.

            Beginning the day four shots behind leader Sean O’Hair, Donovan started auspiciously with an opening birdie. While first and second round leaders Rick Karbowski and O’Hair struggled from the onset en route to matching 2-over par 71’s, Donovan patiently made several clutch par putts early in his round to position himself beautifully for a back nine charge.

            Tied with Justin Goodhue at 8-under par as he stood on the 18^th tee, Donovan striped his tee shot down the center of the fairway on the closing par 4.  Curious to see where he stood, Donovan then asked playing partner Bill Link, “do I want to know or do I not want to know?” To which Link said, “If you want to know, I can tell you.”

            Correctly figuring he needed birdie anyway, Donovan decided he did not need to know where he stood. After firing an 8 iron from 155 yards to within eight feet, Donovan canned his birdie putt for a back nine 30 and a 9-under par total.

            One hole behind him, Goodhue hit a poor drive into the trees on the par 4, 17^th hole and ended up making bogey to fall one behind. Needing a birdie on the final hole, Goodhue hit his approach to the front portion of the green, leaving himself about 50 feet putt for a tying birdie. When his putt narrowly missed, Goodhue tapped in for a superb 67 that was just not good enough on this day as Donovan’s sensational 63 was simply too much to overcome.

            In hindsight, Donovan felt he made the right decision to not determine where he was on the leaderboard. “I had no idea where I stood and I did not really care. I knew I needed a birdie on 18 anyway,” said Donovan.

With the win, Donovan collects $11,000 and becomes the 15^th different GBO winner in as many years.

As somewhat of a consolation, runner-up Justin Goodhue captured the Chrysler Shot Skills Shootout and a $4,000 check to this fall’s PGA Tour Qualifying School.

38^th Greater Bangor Open Final Round Results

Greater Bangor Municipal Golf Course

Par 69, 6,345 yards