Ken Tanigawa completed an impressive two-day rally with a 6-under 64 on Sunday to win the Rogers Charity Classic in Calgary.
Tanigawa worked his way into contention on Saturday, moving 36 spots up the leaderboard and into a tie for fourth thanks to a 9-under 61 that featured a hole-in-one at the par-3 16th. He then rattled off eight birdies against two bogeys on Sunday to finish at 17-under 193 for the tournament, two shots ahead of Australian Richard Green.
And perhaps Tanigawa has a home-cooked meal to thank for his strong finish.
Tanigawa was staying at the home of some family friends, who cooked for him on Friday night ahead of his big second round. From there, it was smooth sailing for the 56-year-old.
“Boy, I just holed putts,” said Tanigawa, whose first-round 68 had him five strokes back on Friday. “You start making putts and then you start feeling it, and they just started going in. … It’s just putting. I made some putts and I missed a couple today, but made some good ones as well.”
Green, the second-round leader, went 2 under on Sunday due to a rocky finish at Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club. He was 4 under through 13 holes after collecting five birdies from Nos. 8-13, but he settled for bogeys at the par-3 14th and par-4 17th and never recovered.
“It’s nice to be competing and contending to do what I want to do,” Green said. “It’s just a shame that things just at the end there didn’t really fall my way. I thought they were going my way there a little bit through the middle of the round, and probably my start today didn’t really help me very much.”
Englishman Darren Clarke (65 on Sunday) and Jason Caron (67) tied for third at 14-under 196. Clarke turned in a bogey-free round, while Caron’s only slip-up came at No. 16, which he bogeyed.
“Just felt good about the speed of the greens, and next thing you know, I played good the first day, second day and today you never know what happens,” Caron said. “I played really solid again today.”
Mario Tiziani (67) landed in fifth at 13 under, and Steven Alker of New Zealand (70) had sole possession of sixth at 12 under.
Matt Gogel (66), Shane Bertsch (66) and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington (70) were T7, six shots off the lead.
