Texas’ Omar Uresti Holds On to Win Event No. 2 In PGA Tournament Series

Omar Uresti showed this week he can win from behind as well as on the lead.

Three days after making birdies on the last two holes to win Event No. 1 of the PGA Tournament Series, Uresti opened a four-shot lead Friday and held on for a one-shot victory in Event No. 2 at PGA Golf Club.

Uresti shot a 2-under 70 on the Dye Course for a 36-hole score of 8-under 136, edging out Yong Joo (67-137) of Ashburn, Va., and Steven Delmar (69-137) of Gaithersburg, Md. Uresti earned $5,000 for the victory.
 
“Coming from behind is less stressful, that’s for sure,” said Uresti, a PGA Life Member from Austin, Texas who has played in 375 PGA Tour events and earned $3.87 million.
 
“I got off to a great start today (birdie-eagle), but I knew I needed to make a few more birdies. It wasn’t that I relaxed. I was putting too much pressure on my putting to try and make more.”
 
Uresti fired a 6-under 66 Thursday to take a two-shot lead into the final round. He remained red-hot Friday with a birdie on the first hole and an eagle on the par-4 second hole – he holed a 6-iron from 181 yards -- to extend his lead to four shots.
 
Then it was a case of holding on. Uresti played his next nine holes in two-over and gave up a share of the lead to Jin Chung, who shot a 31 on the front nine, when Uresti three-putted the 11th hole for a bogey.
 
Uresti regained the lead with a birdie at the 12th, and finished with six pars to win. Different methods, same result.
 
“I hit the ball a lot better the last two days than I did earlier in the week, but I just couldn’t make any putts,” Uresti said. “I wasn’t quite seeing the line. I finally relaxed on 12 and made a birdie.”
 
Joo and Delmar both birdied the par-4 14th to move within a shot of Uresti, but they finished with four pars to share second place. Delmar just missed his birdie putt at No. 18.
 
Greg O’Mahony of Stuart shot 68 to tie for fourth place with Chad Kurmel (69) of Okemos, Mich., at 5-under 139. Chung played his last four holes in 3-over for a 70 to finish tied for sixth with John Seltzer (69) of Grand Rapids, Mich.
 
The 52-year-old Uresti was hoping to be playing this week in the final stage of the PGA Tour Champions’ q-school, but that event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Being able to play the start of the PGA Tournament Series turned out to be a nice fallback.
 
“A couple of us would have probably been there at finals, but unfortunately COVID came around,” Uresti said. “At the same time, I got to come here and hang out with some buddies and play some great tournament-golf.”
 
It marked the second consecutive year a player won the first two events in the PGA Tournament Series. Last year, it was Dylan Newman of Jupiter who won Event No. 1 and No. 2 (Joshua Rackley of Brookville, N.Y., then won Event No. 3 and Event No. 4).The PGA Tournament Series is presented by GolfAdvisor.com.