Red River Cart

Giant finish

Jacob Oaks didn't need perfection Thursday because he had earned a five-shot cushion going into the final round.

Par was going to look very good for the only player in red numbers this week. He was still up five shots with four holes to play.

But when it came time to close, Oaks bypassed good and went for great. He crafted a perfect ending to the 55th Annual Texas-Oklahoma Junior Golf Tournament with four consecutive birdies to fire a 3-under 69 and win the Boys Open Championship Flight by nine shots.

Oaks put together his masterpiece one shot at a time, and many times, one putt per hole in his only appearance at the T-O Junior.

Oaks will have fond memories of The Champions Course at Weeks Park. His 69 was actually a shot worse than he scored here two days ago, making him 7-under at Weeks in this event.

Oaks shot even par — a 1-over and a 1-under — for the two days at Wichita Falls Country Club.

Oaks had three consecutive rounds under par to become the third consecutive Oklahoma golfer to claim the title. It's the first three-peat for the Sooner State since 1975-77 (Jim Woodward once, Lawrence Field twice).

The last Texas winner was in 2007 when Benjamin Thorseth took it.

Stratton Nolen of Austin, who shot a 73 on Thursday and finished second just like he did in 2010, plans to take a shot at returning the trophy to the Texas side of the Red River in 2012.

But this day, and this tournament, belonged to Oaks, who was born in Alabama and spent some growing years in Humble.

The birdie blitz that started with a putt from 3 feet off the fringe on No. 15 made him the first player to finish in the 270s (279) since Edward Loar won this event in 1994. He was the first at 7-under since Jason Scherr in 1999. It was 10 strokes fewer than Casey Fernandez won with last year.

Just before the final four holes, Oaks failed to collect a birdie on the par-5 No. 14 after getting the second shot to the fringe. But the "miss" or the next approach that found even more fringe wasn't because he was playing safe or tentative.

Oaks said he and his caddie, Trey Payne, talked about "staying aggressive. He was telling me don't change anything."

So he rolled in from about 15 feet on No. 15 and then found himself having to go over a sand bunker to the skinny part of the green on No. 16.

Maybe a place to play safe and set up a two-putt? Nope, Oaks just pitched it to the pin and converted a four-foot birdie. On No. 17 he played 4-iron to 150 foot and 9-iron to about 20 inches.

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