Former Tide Golfer Lowery Finishes 2nd at The International
8/6/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
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CASTLE ROCK, COLO. – He won the tournament in 1994 and threatened to take the championship trophy home to Birmingham again on Sunday. But instead former University of Alabama golfer Steve Lowery left with second place and final round play that PGA fans will be talking about for years to come.
The Birmingham native, who played for the Crimson Tide from 1980-83 and was an All-Southeastern Conference golfer at Alabama, rallied in Sunday’s final round of the International, a PGA tour stop in Castle Rock, Colorado. He was cut short by a single point by Rich Beem who had seven birdies and also an eagle on the 17th hole to win. Lowery had a rare double eagle (only the third in tournament history), an eagle and a birdie in his final five holes of the tournament. Lowery’s double-eagle 2 came on the par five 17th hole when he holed out a 6-iron from 200 yards. On 18 Lowery attempted a 10-foot birdie putt, but the win escaped him when the ball ran just past the left edge of the cup.
“I’m really pleased with the way I played coming down the stretch,” said Lowery whose day also included making birdie on the par 5 14th hole---just after an hour rain delay and despite having to take off a shoe and sock and knocking the ball out of a pond. He followed that with an eagle 2 on 15 when he holed out his wedge from the fairway. He bogeyed 16 then had the double eagle on 17.
“It was amazing. I hit my best shot of the week out of the woods on No. 13 and followed that with three or four other shots that were probably better than that,” said Lowery who had been down 10 points to Beem going into the weather delay before No. 14 then quickly erased the deficit to shoot for the win on 18. “On 18 I hit two aggressive shots and a great putt that didn’t’ break until it got past the hole. I was playing to win, so I’m disappointed.”
Lowery has been playing on the PGA Tour for a decade now. In addition to the 1994 International win, he won the 2000 Southern Farm Bureau Classic. This year he also has a second place finish at Milwaukee. His finish on Sunday jumped him from 77th on the 2002 Tour Money Leaders list to 31st with $1,080,639 won in 21 tour events this year.
