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Dan McCarthy watches a tee shot during Wednesday's final round at the Frank B. Fuhrer Invitational at the Pittsburgh Field Club.
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Dan McCarthy's long week ends with biggest paycheck of his pro golf career

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Dan McCarthy's long week ends with biggest paycheck of his pro golf career

Dan McCarthy’s three-day odyssey began Sunday night in Wichita, Kan., and ended Wednesday at the Pittsburgh Field Club with the largest paycheck of his professional career.

In between, there was a canceled connecting flight from Dallas, a rerouted flight to Dayton, Ohio, that didn’t include his luggage and golf clubs, a four-hour drive to Pittsburgh that began at 1 a.m., a stop at an all-night Walmart in Columbus, Ohio, to buy a golf outfit and two early-morning phone calls to borrow clubs for his 8:27 a.m. tee time Monday.

Oh yeah, and a couple crucial birdie putts on the final three holes, just when he needed them most.

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“I’m glad American Airlines had a flight to Dayton,” McCarthy said.

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Gerry Dulac
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It all seemed worth it to McCarthy when he overcame a three-shot deficit on the final five holes Wednesday to win the $40,000 first prize at the three-day Frank B. Fuhrer Invitational.

Back-to-back birdie putts at Nos. 16 and 17 and a critical up-and-down at the finishing hole allowed McCarthy, a full-time member of the Web.com Tour, to catch and pass three-time champ David Bradshaw, who led the tournament for 70 holes after an opening-round 63.

McCarthy’s final-round 69 allowed him to finish at 5-under 275, one shot clear of Bradshaw (72) and three better than defending champ T.J. Howe (72). They were the only players to finish under par in the 72-hole event.

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“With everything that’s happened the last few days, I couldn’t ask for a better result,” McCarthy said. “I really didn’t expect it when I started out without my clubs and clothes.”

After shooting 1-under 139 for the first two rounds using borrowed clubs, McCarthy was able to get his own sticks back for the final two rounds. The result: The largest check of McCarthy’s professional career. He had never won more than $28,000 in a tournament in two years on the Web.com Tour.

McCarthy elected not to enter Lincoln Land Championship on the Web.com Tour this week because he wanted to play at the Field Club to pay back Fuhrer for giving him a chance to play in his $200,000 tournament five years ago.

“It proved to be a good decision,” McCarthy said.

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It started to look even better at the par-4 ninth hole, right after he had narrowed Bradshaw’s lead to one with a 12-foot birdie at No. 8. And especially after Bradshaw’s tee shot came to rest a foot from a tree on a grassy hillside in the right rough.

But, from the left side of the fairway, McCarthy spun his approach back off the green at the 418-yard hole and made bogey. Meantime, Bradshaw’s punched a wedge from 135 yards to 4 feet and made an unexpected birdie, creating a two-shot swing that appeared unlikely just moments earlier. Bradshaw’s lead was back to three.

“I was in the driver’s seat,” said Bradshaw, who won the tournament in 2012, 2015 and 2016.

But, just when it appeared Bradshaw might win the tournament for a record-tying fourth time, McCarthy’s putter came alive.

After Bradshaw three-putted for bogey at par-3 14th to reduce his lead to two, McCarthy made a bending 12-footer for birdie at the picturesque 202-yard 16th to get within one. Then, after hitting his tee shot in the right rough at the par-4 17th, McCarthy lofted a 9-iron over a tree to 15 feet.

When he made the birdie putt and Bradshaw three-putted again, this time from 45 feet, McCarthy had a one-shot lead – the first time someone other than Bradshaw was at the top of the leaderboard since the tournament began.

“I played a bad back nine and he played a great one,” Bradshaw said. “Those birdie putts on 16 and 17 were ridiculous. The guy can roll the rock. That’s why he’s on the Web.com Tour.”

McCarthy has made 11 of 13 cuts with three top-6 finishes this season on the Web.com Tour. He ranks 34th on the money list and needs to move up nine spots to earn status on the PGA Tour in 2019.

It would be nice, he joked, if the $40,000 he won at the Field Club could be applied to his official earnings on the Web.com Tour. But what would be good, he said, is if some of the big putts he made in the stretch could carry over to the Webcom Tour.

“That’s been a bit of the story all year on the Web tour,” McCarthy said. “I hit it great, a lot like I did today, but I just burn a lot of edges and lip-out putts. I thought today was going to be another chapter in the book of burning edges and what could have been. But those putts went in at the right time.”

Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com.

First Published: June 27, 2018, 10:36 p.m.

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Dan McCarthy watches a tee shot during Wednesday's final round at the Frank B. Fuhrer Invitational at the Pittsburgh Field Club.  (Peter Diana/Post-Gazette)
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