The course doesn’t really matter: when Andy Spencer is playing in The Watson Challenge, he’s going to be hard to beat.
The pro from Prairie Village has been trying to tread a path to the PGA Tour since graduating from the University of Kansas in 2020. But The Watson Challenge — a yearly event to determine Kansas City’s top golfer – has been his wheelhouse: Spencer won the event in 2017 and 2018 at Milburn Country Club.
This year’s edition of the Challenge was held Thursday-Saturday at The National Golf Club of Kansas City in Parkville, a brand-new test for Spencer in the event. However, when you hit golf balls as well as Spencer did this weekend, no course design is daunting enough.
Spencer clinched this Watson Challenge title with a 1-under 71 on Saturday, finishing at 10-under 206 over three rounds and 2 shots ahead of runner-up and former PGA pro Michael Letzig.
Eight-time major winner Tom Watson, the tournament’s namesake, handed the 23-year-old his third Challenge title while jokingly remarking pros like Spencer were too good and needed to be banned from the event.
So as long as Spencer is able to show up, expect him to be in the running for silverware.
“I feel like whatever I’m working on has always clicked in this event,” Spencer said. “I practiced really hard last week (and) got some really good feels ball striking-wise and really leaned on that this week. … I don’t know what it is, like sleeping in my own bed or what, but I’ve seemed to always have success in this event.”
Up 4 shots on Letzig headed into Saturday, Spencer played far from perfect. Both birdied No. 1 to start, but Spencer went into the water on No. 2, while his playing partner birdied again. From there, Spencer composed himself and got back to 4 shots ahead well into the back nine.
On the par-5 No. 15, where he had eagled a day before, Spencer’s tee shot went wide into the thick rough, and once he found his ball ruled it unplayable and took a stroke penalty. Spencer saved a bogey as Letzig made par, then matched him with pars on Nos. 16 and 17.
Letzig gained a stroke back with a birdie on No. 18, but Spencer had gained another trophy anyway.
“I knew if I just kept making pars that would put more pressure on Michael for him to kind of chase after me, instead of me falling back to him,” Spencer said. “So I just tried to keep it in front of me all day.”
Letzig, who said Friday that he felt dissatisfied with his swing, remarked that he didn’t feel confident enough in his stroke to attack the pin and charge at Spencer, opting for consistency over taking risks.
Down 3 strokes at the par-4 No. 17, Letzig opted to go for the flag stick from the fairway on his second shot, but he narrowly missed the green and ended up in rough for a difficult chip. He saved par, but so did Spencer, and Letzig’s last gasp to make up ground fell short.
“I didn’t feel comfortable enough to really fire at pins,” Letzig said. “I felt like my best swing of the week was on 17, and I misjudged the wind and it just barely missed the green and went down in the hazard. I felt like that was just kind of a bad break.”
The tournament’s namesake played, too, of course. Watson, a Kansas City native and six-time winner of the Challenge, finished 11-over for the weekend capped by a 2-over 74 on Saturday and tied for 19th — solid scores for a 71-year-old.
After not being able to hold The Watson Challenge last summer because of COVID-19 concerns, Watson praised the event’s organization and course conditions for Saturday as “perfect,” following recent rain that made the course more difficult Thursday and Friday.
“We need to keep this momentum going with golf, with people getting to learn how to play the game now and reacquainting themselves with the game,” Watson said, citing that golf entered a surge in popularity last year. “That’s the important thing that was happening in this tournament right here.”
Meanwhile, Spencer — who has played events on the Korn Ferry Tour, golf’s minor league — could have his biggest break yet in the coming days. Spencer flew out of Kansas City at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, hours after he clinched the Challenge title, to compete in Monday’s qualifier for the Palmetto Championship — a PGA Tour event.
While he’s enjoying winning events back home in Kansas City, Spencer’s got a dream to chase. The coming days could mark a critical point in it.
“I hope I get some sleep tonight,” Spencer said. “You never know. Sometimes you play your best when you go into a course blind. So that’s what I’m kind of hoping for. Hopefully, I’m going to grab one of those spots for the PGA Tour next week.”