A wire-to-wire win.

March 14, 2022 by Cameron Guidry in News, Recap with comments

After a slow start to his 2021 season, Paul McBeth is wasting no time in his 2022 campaign, emerging victorious in his first two outings and looking poised for dominance similar to his 2019 season. He comfortably won the 2022 Waco Annual Charity Open at 23-under par, three strokes ahead of Luke Humphries.

While his final round started slow with three straight pars, McBeth quickly got back on track, keeping any hopefuls at a distance with seven straight birdies on some of the most challenging holes Waco has to offer. His save on the 9th was a bullseye from the rough, and he started his day needing a 50 footer just to save par. It was the theme of the weekend for McBeth: his best moments came from excellent saves on errant drives. Whether it came on the green or on upshots, it was his ability to escape bad situations with minimal to no damage that set him apart.

“Felt great this week,” said McBeth. “I was able to tie Luke [Humpries] and Nick [Carl] after that first round to jump in the lead early and kind of just stay there, so I’m really happy with this week.”

Even with his dominance in the middle stretch of the round, McBeth let the door squeak open just enough for some intrigue, starting on the 12th. He seemed to find a new spectrum of the Waco thickets, even asking himself, “How did I get in there?” The ensuing bogey was the start of McBeth seeming to take his foot off the gas, finishing the round even on the back 9, though he was never really pressured by his competitors. His back-to-back bogeys to finish the round may seem worrisome, but they largely came in the name of caution; his weakest moment was a par on 14 after missing a putt from inside the circle, and even then his lead was only narrowed to four strokes. It was a wire-to-wire win for McBeth: even with slight falters late, he had done his work early to make himself uncatchable by the turn on Sunday.

It was McBeth’s 16th DGPT Elite Series win and his first back-to-back tournament wins (following last weekend’s Memorial victory) since July 2020.

After skipping Las Vegas Challenge to start the season, though, he does not lead the DGPT points standings. Ladies and gentlemen, your tour points leader after two events: Luke Humphries!

While for most of the round it looked like Humphries…