The city of La Canada Flintridge is located at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains in eastern Los Angeles, a community known for being the site of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and, more famously, for dangerous fires that occasionally roar through the hills. dry bones.
Across the street from the Jet Lab and on the freeway from Pasadena’s Rose Bowl is La Canada High School. Important alarms include actors, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and an Olympic luger. It also produced a couple of fairly decent golfers.
Collin Morikawa was eight years behind David Lipsky at school, and their professional career paths have been wildly different, but their trajectories have crossed like rare comets on a Sunday afternoon in mid-July.
While 23-year-old Morikawa was securing his second PGA Tour win in his rookie season at the Workday Charity Open in Ohio, beating Justin Thomas in a playoff, Lipsky, 31, marked his first triumph on the Korn Ferry Tour in San Antonio , Texas.
Lipsky’s victory wasn’t nearly as nerve-racking as it ended a huge scoring week with seven birds and a 66 under-par in the final round to capture the TPC San Antonio Challenge at 25 below. His closest pursuer, Canadian Taylor Pendrith, has finished four shots back.
The road to victory was spurred on in the third round on Saturday, when Lipsky recorded 10 birds and an eagle in shooting a 62 that matched Fred Couples’ competitive track record.
Lipsky said after raising the trophy that he and Morikawa grew up playing on the same home course and are in regular contact. In fact, they exchanged messages over the weekend with encouraging words.
“Today we both said to take care of business,” said Lipsky. “And I just saw that he won in a playoff, which is quite surprising.”
It was Lipsky’s first significant victory as a professional in the United States. Graduated in the Northwest, he made his mark in other parts of the world, winning twice on both the European and Asian tours. His most recent triumph was a two-stroke victory in the Alfred Dunhill championship in South Africa in December 2018.
Lipsky never had an unconditional status on either the PGA Tour or the Korn Ferry, and in eight previous departures this year on the Korn Ferry he had scored a top 10 finish and had lost three of the last four cuts.
He made five starts in the PGA Tour last season, with a T-10 in the WGC-Mexico championship as best finish.
“This is where I want to play,” said Lipsky. “I’ve always wanted to go back and play in the United States. Obviously, this is home. “
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