RENO, Nev. — Matt Bettencourt chipped in for an eagle on the 11th hole, then held off Bob Heintz by a stroke to win for the first time on the PGA Tour.
Bettencourt capped his 4-under 68 with a bogey on No. 18 after a birdie on 17, finishing the Reno-Tahoe Open at 11-under 277 Sunday. After his eagle on the par-5 11th, he played the final seven holes in 1 over par. He also bogeyed the par-4 14th at Montreux Golf & Country Club.
Heintz (69) missed a three-foot birdie putt on the 18 that would have forced a playoff.
He started the week trying to qualify for a Nationwide Tour event in Ohio before he was notified he’d qualified for Reno and hopped plane to Nevada on Tuesday.
John Merrick and Mathias Gronberg each shot 69 and tied for third at 9-under.
Robert Gamez (68), Matt Jones (68), Alex Cejka (69), Kevin Stadler (70) and Craig Barlow (72) all finished another stroke back at 8-under.
Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., started the day in contention by fired a 78 to finish nine strokes back.
Bettencourt won the money title on the Nationwide Tour in 2008 and tied for 10th at the U.S. Open last year. He finished 111th on the PGA money list with US$740,037 that year.
This win qualified him to play in the PGA Championship for the first time.
Scott McCarron, a former Reno resident and Montreux member who served as the tournament host, started the day at 10-under with a one-stroke lead over John Mallinger and Robert Garrigus. But he fell to a tie for 35th at 1-under with five bogeys and two double bogeys on the way to an 81.