Comeback king Spellman wins Sole Survivor

It’s every Sole Survivor golfers’ worst nightmare — being the first player to be eliminated on the first hole of the tournament.

One year after suffering that fate in his first ever Moscow Elks Sole Survivor, Jeff Spellman was just hoping to make it to hole No. 2.

He did a lot more than that.

Spellman navigated his way through the 10-player field all the way to hole No. 9, where he beat tourney-newcomer Dennis Wilson in a tiebreaker chip off to win the 74th annual Sole Survivor tournament Tuesday at the Moscow Elks Lodge Golf Club.

“After going out on the first hole last year, I just wanted to make it past that first hole,” said a teary-eyed Spellman, clutching the Ken Jordan Sole Survivor winner’s trophy.

“Hit some bad shots on the way, hung in there and I just can’t believe I’m standing here on the ninth green.”

The elimination-style tournament — which uses qualifiers to determine the 10-player Fourth of July lineup — removes the player with the worst score on each hole until only the champion remains.

In the case of a tie, like Spellman and Wilson had on No. 9, a 50-yard, closest-to-the-pin chip off is used as a tiebreaker.

Spellman, 48, and Wilson, 58, both of Moscow, each found themselves in some sketchy situations Tuesday, but both managed to always recover enough to survive to the next tee.

For Spellman, on No. 3 he clipped the ground badly trying to get around a tree, but saved bogey with a perfect shot to the middle of the green on the long par 4.

He also had to hit up a steep embankment on No. 5 and bounced back from a rough tee shot on No. 6.

For Wilson, his No. 7 — a 454-yard par 5 — was even more disastrous. Wilson’s ball ended up well off the course to the right, but right before the three-minute limit expired, a volunteer found his ball on the side road.

Wilson chose to play the ball from its spot and recovered well enough to advance over Brock Pederson, who had some water hazard troubles.

“It was playable, so I just closed my eyes and swung as hard as I could and it got out,” Wilson said.

It’s good to be clutch.

Pederson, who finished fourth, brought some flavor to the tournament field with matching floral shorts and shirt, a purple-and-pink splotched bucket hat, a mustache and a jokey personality.

Bill Myers, the Elks’ current club champion, finished third.

The surprise of the tournament may have been defending-champion Sean Dorigo being eliminated on the first hole — an unlikely omen of the reversal that was to come with his and Spellman’s placement from the previous year.

As for Spellman, he and his lucky brimmed hat just kept chipping away.

And it ended with a holiday night worth celebrating for the Moscow native.

“Grew up golfing here at the U of I and got the opportunity to take over as superintendent out here a couple years ago, and now I get to play in these tournaments,” Spellman said.

On the final hole, Spellman and Wilson hit their tee shots to nearly the same spot on the right side of the fairway, but Spellman’s approach shot landed on the right fringe and Wilson’s on the left.

Spellman set up an easy 3-foot putt, so Wilson had to make a tougher 8-footer to force the tiebreaker. That’s when Spellman’s chip shot landed about 5 feet past the hole, easily the winner as Wilson’s came up short of the green.

The champ and co-champ were the first to exchange big hugs as the cheers from the dozens of onlookers rained down at last, more than five hours after the tournament began.

A day that started with hot dogs, music and Fourth of July decorations ended with crowning a new champion and new second-place finisher in a 74-year-old event.

“This has been an amazing experience,” Wilson said. “All these guys, the people that came out for it, it’s like family. It’s almost just like family.”

Order of finish

1. Jeff Spellman

2. Dennis Wilson

3. Bill Myers

4. Brock Pederson

5. Ben Mack

6. Taylor Riedner

7. Nick Jensen

8. Jordan Purkapile

9. Dan Mack

10. Sean Dorigo

Wiebe may be contacted at (208) 848-2277, swiebe@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @StephanSports.