Matt Dobyns wins PGA Professional National Championship

The final round of the PGA Professional National Championship lacked much drama Wednesday for most of the day, particularly after 24-year-old Ben Polland increased his lead to 5 strokes with six holes to play.

However, the tournament ratcheted up the excitement at the tough par-4 18th hole of Philadelphia Cricket Club's Wissahickon course, thanks to a poor decision and poor execution by Polland, and a remarkably clutch approach to the green by Matt Dobyns, a fellow Met Section member in New York.

After Polland hit his second shot into the water and made double bogey, Dobyns coolly delivered a downhill 3-foot putt into the cup for birdie and the title, his second in four years.

Dobyns, one of two players who trailed Polland by 5 on the back nine, birdied two holes down the stretch in a round of even-par 70 for a 3-under 279 total. Polland carded two bogeys and the double on his last six holes for 72-280.

It was a heartbreaking finish for Polland. Holding a 2-stroke lead walking to 18, he hit his tee ball on top of the grass facing of a fairway bunker. A creek bisects the fairway about 50 yards short of the green and he could have laid up, but despite a bad lie, Polland choked up on a 7-iron and tried to carry the ball over the water about 100 yards away.

The ball disappeared into the hazard. Polland took a drop and hit his fourth shot 10 feet from the hole but missed the putt. Dobyns, who stuck a 50-degree wedge from 148 yards close, sank his putt for the unexpected victory.

"I absolutely stole it," said Dobyns, head pro at Fresh Meadows Country Club in Lake Success, N.Y.

"I couldn't believe he hit it in the water, the only place he could hit it and lose the tournament. I know Ben well. He works at the same club I worked at for years. I know how good a player he is and he's a better person. I felt really bad for him that he hit it in there, but at the same time, I'm also trying to win this thing."

Polland, an assistant pro at Deepdale Golf Club in Manhasset, N.Y., said there was no thought of laying up short.

"I had a pretty good lie and thought I could get enough club on it to carry the creek," he said. "But I completely whiffed it, hit it on the toe."

The win was special to Dobyns. He was called home through two rounds of last year's PNC when his wife went into labor and delivered a son, Michael, who weighed 21/2 pounds. The child spent 73 days in intensive care and, now healthy, was at the Cricket Club on Wednesday.

The top 20 finishers all qualified for the PGA Championship. Brian Gaffney of Monmouth Beach, N.J., won the final spot in a five-man playoff at 4-over 286.