Andrade Now Making Cents

OJAI —  There’s an old saying in golf that all the bad breaks you get will be evened out by good breaks over the course of a round.

For Billy Andrade it didn’t happen in one round, and it may not be complete redemption, but his misfortune from two weeks ago took a turn for the better when he won the EMC Golf Skills Challenge at Ojai Valley Inn and Spa on Monday.

Andrade finished the recently completed PGA Tour season ranked No. 31 on the money list. A top-30 finish would have earned him a spot in the season-ending Tour Championship and a shot at its $720,000 first prize and minimum earnings of $64,000. Andrade finished $4.25 behind Andrew Magee for 30th place.

He won $136,000 for winning the unofficial, made-for-television event that featured eight PGA and Senior PGA Tour players competing in nine different skills events.

Riding the momentum of an unlikely victory in the long-drive competition, Andrade won two of the nine skills competitions and finished second in four.

He finished the PGA season ranked 104th in driving distance and 143rd in driving accuracy, but beat a field that included long-hitting John Daly, who finished first in driving distance this season, with a 320-yard blast in the day’s first event.

“I really don’t have a clue what the hell happened,” said Andrade, who has never won a long-drive competition before. “It’s never been my strong suit, but it was my omen for the day. It got me going.”

Andrade also won the trouble shot when he hit a 125-yard shot out from under a large oak tree to within three feet, 6 1/2 inches of the hole. He finished second in the greenside bunker, mid-iron, fairway bunker and chip shot competitions.

Daly, who averaged 302 yards per drive on tour, missed the fairway with all three of his long-drive attempts. He finished second overall.

“Go figure,” Daly said. “You take away the long drive and I win this thing.”

But the day was not about winning, it was more of a show for the estimated 2,000 spectators. (NBC-TV will show the event Dec. 13-14).

“I don’t come here to win this,” said golf legend Chi Chi Rodriguez. “I come out here to be around these young guys and have fun.’

That seemed to be the sentiment for all players, who joked throughout.

Brad Faxon threw a florescent pink tee next to Peter Jacobsen’s ball in an attempt to distract him during the long bunker shot.

Jacobsen acted as a caddie for Andrade in the short iron competition, cleaning his club after every shot.

Andrade returned the favor by handing Jacobsen a sand wedge after Jacobsen hit a pitching wedge to within five feet.

“Here,” Andrade said sarcastically. “Go right after it.”

Rodriguez, who is 5 feet 7, had this reaction when Andrade (5-8) won the long-drive competition: “How does a little guy like you hit the ball that far?”

Oxnard native Paul Stankowski, a Hueneme High graduate, drew vocal fan support on every shot from a dozen or so of his cronies that came to see him play.

“When I found out I was playing in this I was fired up,” said Stankowski, who was a late addition to the event. “These are fun days, nothing trying about it. It’s really exciting to come back here and play.”

Faxon, who won the last two Skills Challenges, finished fourth.

“I was sick of winning it anyway,” he joked.