Former Delco resident Vince Covello earns first Web.com Tour victory

After 15 years of playing professional golf, of not experiencing victory in more than 10 years, Vince Covello was intent on not allowing his opportunity for his first career victory on the Web.com Tour to elude him.

He was unfazed by two crucial bogeys Sunday on the back nine at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open, and stayed positive after finding the water with his tee shot on the first playoff hole, holding on to defeat Justin Lower for that coveted first win on the PGA Tour’s developmental circuit.

Covello, 36, a former Delaware County resident, birdied the 16th and 18th holes to force a playoff and made par out of the water to stay alive. When his 2 ½-foot birdie putt at the third playoff hole fell in, he punched the air in jubilation.

“Just totally thrilled and proud at the same time,” Covello said Monday while driving the 10 hours from Broussard, La., to his Jacksonville, Fla., home. “It’s been over a decade since my last win. Winning is a habit and if you haven’t done it in a long time, it’s a barrier to break through. I’m ecstatic to get it done, and in the fashion I did was just incredible.”

Covello, who played junior golf at Llanerch Country Club, was born in Springfield and grew up in Havertown before his family moved to Florida when he was 17. His first call after he won was to Bryn Mawr and his brother, Tom, whom he said “has been one of my biggest fans and biggest supporters.

“I kind of learned the game growing up with him,” he said. “He was a couple of years older than me but he was always a mentor. He’s always so positive about things and encouraged me to keep going, through all these years of being close but not getting the wins and not quite succeeding, not being a top, top player.”

In 79 previous Web.com Tour events, Covello had just two top-10 finishes. However, he fed off both, a tie for third in San Francisco in 2017 and a sixth-place deadlock in Kansas City in 2018, on Sunday.

“Those made it clear definitely in my own mind that I could do it,” he said. “If you’re good enough to finish third, you’re good enough to win. Being able to know I made those birdies down the stretch in those other top-10 finishes, that carried over into (Sunday).”

Covello fell three shots off the lead Sunday after bogeys at 13 and 14, but found new life after Lower bogeyed 14 and 15. He birdied the par-3 16th when his long putt hit the back of the cup, popped in the air and fell in. His tap-in birdie at the par-4 18th put him at 19-under-par 265 and prompted the playoff.

The playoff was almost done before it began after Covello drove into the water. He had to drop under a tree but hit a wedge from 113 yards to 12 feet, and made the putt to save par.

“It was sheer determination at that point,” he said. “When it comes down to head-to-head, a do-or-die situation, you don’t have a choice. You either pass or fail.”

The winning putt came two holes later, and Covello collected a $99,000 first-prize check, more than three times the amount of his previous best payout.

“I just really felt comfortable with what I was doing and sticking to my little routine and the process of what I was trying to do, not looking at the scores or how many under par I was or whatever,” he said. “I was just trying to handle the task at hand right in front of me.”