Piercy achieves Ultimate payday

With six holes left and Ken Jarner holding a three-stroke lead in the Ultimate Game, the drama was fading fast.

The ending was anticlimactic, all right -- but someone else walked away with the $2 million check in the winner-take-all event.

Bonanza High School graduate Scott Piercy sank five birdies in a six-hole span to rally for a three-shot win over fellow Las Vegan Jarner on Friday at Wynn Golf & Country Club.

Piercy shot a 5-under-par 65 to finish at 7 under for the two-day tournament. Jarner closed with a 68.

In addition to the richest check in golf history, Piercy earned an exemption into the Nationwide Tour's Pete Dye Classic on Aug. 23-26.

His chances for the exemption and check -- half of it goes back to Piercy's sponsors -- seemed unlikely as he faced that three-shot deficit on the back nine.

"I hit it basically perfect for two days," said Piercy, who celebrated his fifth wedding anniversary with his wife, Sara. "The last five holes, the putter kind of came around. It's being patient and hopefully it'll start falling. It did."

Perhaps no putt was more important than the one on No. 15. Piercy already had started his move with birdies on Nos. 12 and 13, and Jarner bogeyed No. 14 to make it a one-shot difference.

Then Piercy rolled in a 40-foot birdie putt with a 3-foot right-to-left break to pull even with Jarner.

"That was huge," said Piercy, 28. "I was trying to lag that one close. It's like putting off the front of your windshield. You kind of hope. It went in, and it's kind of disheartening for the other guys."

Piercy took the lead on the 16th with another birdie, and he added to his advantage on the 17th by completing the birdie run.

Meanwhile, Jarner bogeyed No. 17. He failed to make any birdies after the 12th hole.

"If I don't apply any pressure on him, it gives him a free run at stuff," the 43-year-old Jarner said. "When you don't apply pressure, I think anybody can succeed. It's a good learning point for me, and I wish him all the best."

Jarner was playing on his home course. As a caddie, he has walked the track more than 300 times and played it more than 100.

It was his tournament to lose, which turned out to be the case. This is the kind of defeat that could sting for a while -- or so it would seem.

"One day," Jarner insisted. "Back to work, back to the grind. What more can you do? I'm not a touring pro. I didn't expect to win this. I gave it a good shot.

"(Piercy's) played PGA tournaments. If he doesn't win, it's an embarrassment for him. I don't take anything away from Scott. He played great. He came down the home stretch and he won it for himself."

The leader entering the day, Byron Smith of Palm Desert, Calif., took himself out of contention with "a nightmare start." The 26-year-old bogeyed the first four holes to drop to 1 over. He closed with a 73 and to finish at even for the tournament.