Isenhour gains first tour win

Tripp Isenhour recorded his first Buy.com Tour victory, turning in his second straight bogey-free round today to win the Mississippi Gulf Coast Open.

Isenhour, who earned $72,000 for the title, played steady golf as he parred every hole on the front nine and added a pair of birdies on the back side to shoot a 2-under-par 70.

Having fired a tournament-low 64 on Saturday to take the lead, Isenhour had a 72-hole total of 9-under 279 to finish two strokes in front of John Elliott.

"My goal this morning was not to focus on scores and not focus on where I was in the tournament," Isenhour. "I wanted to go out and control what I could control, which was my golf ball."

Don Reese moved into a tie atop the leaderboard by converting birdies at the 13th and 14th holes, but Isenhour answered with a birdie at No. 15 to regain sole possession of the lead for good.

Reese bogeyed the last two holes to finish three shots back with R.W. Eaks. Brian Kamm and Tim Clark ended up four strokes off the pace.

Isenhour, who had won just $4,800 in the season's first two events, placed 41st on last year's money list and had never finished better than a tie for sixth in any previous Buy.com Tour event.

Elliott, playing in the final group with Isenhour and Reese, was never truly in contention after two early bogeys but a 15-foot birdie at No. 18 capped a late charge that allowed him to shoot 71.

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