It wasn’t the final round Las Vegas’ Kendel Hodges was looking for during the APGA tournament at TPC Las Vegas, but he still took the time to answer questions and found the silver lining. Following an opening round 68, which put him in a tie for third, Hodges closed with a 79 to finish T16. He then looked to the future.
“Overall, I got in the mix and got in the final group, so you can never be too upset,” said Hodges, a club fitting specialist at Las Vegas Golf Superstore. “Lots of experience gained, and this is a learning curve and an ongoing learning experience for me. I feel like I’ve been putting myself more in position in these final groups and getting closer to the lead, so we’ll learn from it and and come back even stronger. Today, I learned patience. It was a tough day and it took a long time. Just being patient out there was the biggest key that I took away from today.”
View this post on Instagram
Hodges is from Southern California and moved to Las Vegas a few years ago. He played high school golf at Great Oaks in Temecula before playing collegiately at Cal Baptist. Soon after the Vegas event, he was going back to Cali for the Southern California Open at Indian Wells to hopefully keep the positive vibes going.
“Overall, I feel good, and the final round was just a tough day in tough conditions,” Hodges said. “It is a great golf course, but very penal. I just didn’t have my best stuff.”
Wyatt Worthington II won his first APGA Tour title at TPC Las Vegas. He survived the final round and was thrilled to earn the victory.
“I’m still trying to figure that out how I did it,” Worthington said. “The key was probably the last few holes. I made some really great up and downs during the final stretch. I also made some very clutch putts.”
Worthington clinched the victory with a downhill, five-foot putt on the 18th hole as the sun dipped for the final time in the sky making vision difficult. When the putt dropped, relief set in for him.
“This is a great notch on the belt,” Worthington said. “These guys are fantastic players and I knew Marcus Byrd was charging. I didn’t look too much at the leaderboard because I knew, at the end of the day, I still had a job to do. I am just excited. I am proud of myself that I hung in there when I didn’t have my best stuff. I know I still have to keep getting better and improving. I can’t thank the great folks over at TPC Las Vegas and the staff at the APGA tour for such a great event.”
View this post on Instagram
The APGA Tour was established in 2010 as a non-profit organization with the mission to bring greater diversity to the game of golf. The APGA Tour Board of Directors works to accomplish this by hosting and operating professional golf tournaments, player development programs, mentoring programs and by introducing the game to inner city young people. In addition to conducting an expected 18 tournaments and awarding close to $1 million in prize and bonus money in 2023, the APGA has organized a Player Development Program to aid young minority golfers as they work to chase their goals in professional golf.=