Downs wins the 2016 Southwest PGA Professional Championship

August 8-9, 2016 at Talking Stick Golf Club

SW PGA Professional Championship winner, Dennis Downs, 33, PGA Director of Instruction at Reid/West Golf Academies (Pebble Creek)

Photo courtesy of Mike Schoaf/Southwest PGADennis Downs entered the final round of the Southwest PGA Professional Championship with a two-shot lead over Michael Hopper and three shots over four other competitors. He held on to that cushion and captured the Championship, his second major title in the Southwest PGA.

Downs, 33, PGA Director of Instruction at Reid/West Golf Academies (Pebble Creek), carded a 2-under-par 68 in the final round at Talking Stick Golf Club, which included five birdies and two bogeys. He ended the 36-hole championship at 8-under-par 132, good for a two-stroke victory over Hopper, Aaron Johnson and Marty Jertson.

Jertson, 35, PGA Professional and Senior Design Engineer at PING Golf, who started the day three shots behind Downs, took the overall lead after the fifth hole. Playing in the final group with Downs and Hopper, Jertson made his second birdie of his day on No. 5 and Downs made his second bogey.

The lead remained one until the ninth hole where Downs made birdie and tied Jertson for the lead as the competitors headed to the back nine.

The odd-numbered holes on the back nine were very kind to Downs as he made birdie on Nos. 11, 13, 15, and 17, which essentially secured the championship title.

Hopper, 32, PGA Assistant Golf Professional at Lookout Mountain Golf Club, finished tied for second place with Jertson and Johnson, 26, from Desert Mountain, with a 36-hole total of 134 (-6).

Downs, Hopper, Jertson, Johnson, Ralph West from Reid/West Golf Academy, and David Engram from Mirabel Golf Club, along with the 2016 Southwest PGA Player of the Year, qualified to play in the 50th PGA Professional Championship, which will be contested June 25-28, 2017 at Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, OR. The low 20 scorers in the 50th PGA Professional Championship will advance to the 99th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte, NC.

For more information on the SWSPGA, visit www.southwestpga.com.