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West Bountiful • The World Long Drive hitters launched golf balls toward the "V" on the mountain Saturday. That geographical feature didn't come into play from across the valley, but the houses more than a quarter-mile from the tee were barely out of the drivers' range.
Lakeside Golf Course's practice facility in recent years was expanded to about 480 yards. "We almost needed it," said event organizer host Ryan Reisbeck of Layton, who lost to Glenn Wilson Jr. of Houston in the final match of the Rockwell Blast.
Wilson claimed the $10,000 first prize with a best drive of 439 yards to top Reisbeck's 415-yard effort. Reisback earned $5,000. In each round, with drivers hitting eight balls in three minutes, the longest shot within the grid is counted.
Reisbeck won a tour event in early June in Mesquite, Nev., and other top finishes have carried him to a No. 3 world ranking. In a field with three other top 10 drivers, Reisbeck took the No. 1 seed into the quarterfinals and blasted a 435-yard drive in each of the next two rounds. But he wobbled in the finals, having trouble keeping the ball inside the grid on the left side. In the 100-degree heat with only brief breaks between rounds, "I was pretty tired at the end, and I just wish I'd hit a few more solid," Reisbeck said.
Wilson, a son of a longtime major league catcher, got better as the competition went along. His 453-yarder in the semifinals was the longest shot of the day, and he was steady enough in the final match to earn his first tour victory after contending a few times.
As a good friend of Reisbeck, Wilson said, "I knew I had to bring my best … and the experience of being there in some of the late rounds made it so much more fun for me and I was able to control and calm my nerves."
Ben Tuaone of Salt Lake City posted a best drive of 403 yards, not good enough to advance through the double-elimination round of 16.
Reisbeck hopes the Rockwell Blast can find additional sponsorship and become one of the televised events on the tour, owned by the Golf Channel. The next major event is in Denver later this month and the World Championship is in September in Oklahoma.