Christian smokes field, finishes -20

Published 12:00 am Saturday, February 19, 2005

The Grey Goose – Gateway tour event held at Cambrian Ridge in Greenville came to a close on Friday afternoon as Gary Christianson put the finishing touches on a final round 71. Despite the even par finish, Christian finished the event at -20 under and took home a purse of $8,000. This marks back-to-back wins for Christian. He was the top man coming out of last week's event in Mobile.

Christian, from Birmingham, posted back-to-back 63's to open the competition and then posted a 67 after making the cut on Thursday.

Behind Christianson in the standings was Chip Deason also from Birmingham. Deason finished with a final round 75, which put him at a +4 for the day. But he still finished the event at six under par and took home a purse of $5,0000.

Following Deason in the standings is a three-way tie for third place between Dustin Bray, Jake Istnick and Tommy Gainey. All three finished the event at three under par but took different roads to get there.

Bray posted a first round 72 and then came back with a 67 to make the cut. In the third round Bray shot a +3 but ended up with a two under in the final round. Istnick posted a first round 62, but then erased the -9 and turned it into a +2 on the second day but was still able to make the cut. Over the next two days, Istnick finished with a 69 and then a 72 in the final round.

Gainey shot a 70 in the opening round and then came back with rounds of 68 and 69 before shooting a 74 in the event's final round.

All three claimed a purse of $2,1667.67.

Mayson Petty finished sixth with a +1 for the tournament and took home $1,300.

Stan Gann finished with a +2 and a check for $1,200.

David Robinson, Johnathon Jenkins Daniel Ozley Kris Blanks, Kyle Owen, Tommy Clement Bryant Mackellar, Jeremy Pope, Greg Sonnier and Roger Rowland rounded out the rest of the field with scores ranging from +2 to +17.

The payouts also varied in sizes from $1,100 at the high end to $650.

After leaving the Camellia City, the players on the Grey-Goose Gateway Tour will travel north on I-65 to Prattville and will try to tame the Legislator at Robert Trent Jones' Capital Hill Course in Prattville.