Stiles beats weather to win by two

Just when the golfers thought it couldn't get any worse at the $400,000 Buy.com Tri-Cities Open, the winds changed to rain Sunday morning. Darron Stiles weathered the elements to become just the seventh golfer this season to hold on to a third-round lead and walk away victorious.

For his effot, Stiles earned the $72,000 winner's check and his second victory on the tour. Stiles' final-round 73 left him at 6-under and gave him the two-stroke victory over John Kernohan.

Kernohan used a 71 to record his best finish of the season. Ty Armstrong's 5-under-par 67 was the best round of the day and left him alone in third at 3-under par. Jimmy Johnston (68) finished fourth, Tyler Williamson (73) fifth, while Michael Allen (70), Mark Wurtz (70), Shane Bertsch (70), Steve Haskins (70), J.J Henry (71), Jim Johnson (71) and Mike Grob (72) tied for fifth, six strokes behind the winner.

"This wasn't as exciting as the first. But I think in a way that it was more nerve-wracking just because of the conditions that the golf course was playing -- how hard it was playing," said Stiles, who came from behind to win the 1999 Dominion Open.

After three holes it appeared that Stiles would coast his way to his second tour victory. While he was busy recording three pars to move to 7-under for the tournament, Kernohan birdied the first hole and then added back-to-back bogeys on the next two holes to dig himself into a deeper hole and a five-shot difference with 15 holes to play.

As Kernohan stated yesterday, however, "golf is a crazy game." On hole No. 4, Stiles stumbled with a double bogey after he hit his first tee shot out of bounds and had to tee it up for a second time. He tripped again on the next hole with a bogey and when Kerhohan birdied No. 6, the lead was down to one.

"I definitely felt like the ballgame was on then," said Kernohan, whose $43,200 check was the largest of his career.

"Holding on to a lead is very hard. I started out the day at four (under), ended up at two and, at one point, it was only down to one," said Stiles, who jumped from 71st to 27th on the money list. "It was one after the sixth hole and that's when I decided to take the risk on No. 7 and go for the green. That paid off fortunately, today."

Stiles' caddie wanted him to lay up but he decided to pull out his 3-wood and go for the green. The ball landed 20 feet from the hole and he chipped in for an eagle. "Taking the risk on No. 7 and going for the green, I think that was the turning point. At least it was for me," he said. "That got me fired up. That got me back to a 3-shot lead and I knew with 11 holes to go there were only one or two shots that were a little scary coming in."

Kernohan had the opportunity to stay within two but missed a six-foot putt for birdie on the same hole. "It hurt me when I didn't make my birdie putt, but there was plenty of golf to be played," he said. "I just needed to hit some more iron shots a little closer and give myself some more birdie opportunities. I was fighting for pars a lot of the time."

Two mistakes is all Stiles would allow himself the rest of the way. He made bogeys on Nos. 10 and 16 but managed to add two birdies in between.

"He kept the distance between us," said Kernohan, who moved to No. 22 on the money list. "He never allowed himself to get all the way down to even or behind so he showed a lot of guts and played some good golf when he had to.

Kernohan needed two big putts on the last two holes, a 15-footer and a 10-footer, to finish in sole possession of second.

"I was very fortunate to even stay within two shots at the end," he said.

Henry had the shot of the day, a hole-in-one on the 17th hole. He used a 4-iron from 236 yards to record the sixth ace in the 10-year history of the event and the first on No. 17.

The Buy.com Tour travels to Hillcrest Country Club in Boise, Idaho, next week for the $550,000 Buy.com Boise Open.

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