Former Whitefish resident wins PGA tourney

A former Whitefish resident won the tournament where Tiger Woods couldn't even make the cut.

Ted Purdy, who until about three years ago had a residence in Whitefish and is an investor in the Iron Horse development, finished the Byron Nelson Championship at 15-under to win his first PGA tournament by a stroke over Sean O'Hair on Sunday.

Purdy's family has a lengthy history in northwest Montana. His grandfather became a ranger in Glacier National Park in 1929, his parents are Whitefish resident and his father, Jim, is a real estate developer.

"Our phone has been ringing off the hook," Jim Purdy said Sunday. "For 25 years I've dreamed of watching a golf tournament on Sunday and seeing (Ted) win."

Ted Purdy, 31, has been tantalizingly close to winning on the Tour before. According to his biography on PGATour.com, Purdy held a four-stroke lead heading into the final round of the MCI Heritage last year. Stewart Cink caught him to force a playoff. Cink won on the fifth extra hole.

Purdy also finished second at the B.C. Open last year, missing a 3-foot birdie but on the 72nd hole that would have forced a playoff.

On Sunday, Purdy played bogey-free golf and fired a 5-under 65 to overtake O'Hair, who had a 1-shot lead at the start of the final round.

"It's just euphoric," Purdy told The Associated Press in Irving, Texas.

"Under the circumstances, it's the best round of golf I ever played. I guess on Sunday, to win a tournament, that's how you do it."

The Byron Nelson isn't the first tournament Purdy has bettered Woods, who had his PGA Tour-record streak of 142 consecutive cuts-made snapped Friday, but it is the first time as a professional.

Purdy, who attended the University of Arizona, won the 1996 Ping Arizona Intercollegiate by six strokes over Woods, who at Stanford.

Sunday's victory - over a field that included golf's so-called "Big Five" (Woods, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen) playing together for only the third time all year - was sweet vindication for Purdy's six-year stint on the Asian Tour and having to earn his PGA Tour card twice.

And it also got him a winner's check for $1,116,000.

Back in Whitefish, Jim Purdy watched with pride as CBS commentators told his son's story and let slip with an interesting bit of news.

"During the interview (after the tournament) I just found out his wife is pregnant for the second time," Jim Purdy said. "I'm the last guy to get in the loop."