Keppler finished with a 5-under 67 to finish 15 under at Jennings Mill Country Club and beat Alpharetta’s Zach Caldwell, who shot 70, by one stroke. Jared O’Kelley shot 71 and finished third at 10 under and Ruan Pretorius of West Point, a native of South Africa and a student at Point University, finished fourth and scored a low number of amateurs at 8 under.
The lowest lap of the day was posted by O’Neal, who scored six straight holes en route to a first nine 30. He finished with a 63 and moved 16 places to finish fifth.
Keppler had been in the lead or close to leading the Georgia Open all week and entered the final round with two backlogs from Caldwell. Although he scored well, Keppler didn’t like the way he was hitting the ball, so on Saturday he received an 11th hour lesson from his swing coach, Chan Reeves of the Atlanta Athletic Club, and his father.
“I had an emergency lesson,” he said. “I got it in the hole the first three days, but it didn’t hit well. Today I hit a lot better. “
The lesson – moving the ball forward a bit and trying to stay more centered – worked and Keppler started hitting lasers near the pin all day. Once the putts started falling, Keppler was able to make his move. He caught Caldwell with a bird on the ninth hole and the last nine turned into a match-play situation between the two leaders.
Keppler made a six-foot birdie on the par-5 16th hole to tie Caldwell, who missed a putt of similar length. Keppler made another six foot regular for birdies on the 17th par-3 and Caldwell missed a 15 foot on the same line.
Caldwell’s chance to force a playoff ended on the 18th. Caldwell missed the green on the left and failed to pierce the chip for a birdie. This left Keppler only needing two 30-foot putts to secure victory and his first putt stopped at about six inches, which removed any drama.
