SARATOGA SPRINGS — With a 74.1 rating and 141 slope, Saratoga National is far from an easy golf course, but Chris Sanger had the ideal appetizer before playing here.
Sanger, fresh off his appearance in the PGA Championship at Rochester’s Oak Hill, fired a 4-under-par 68 Tuesday and cruised to a seven-stroke victory in the 93rd Northeastern New York PGA Stroke Play Championship.
The head pro at Woodstock, Sanger, 37, won his first Stroke Play title with near-flawless golf, hitting the first 17 greens in regulation and playing bogey-free until the final hole. By that time, the victory was secure for Sanger, who finished last in Rochester with rounds of 84 and 81.
“Oak Hill is a completely different animal,” he said. “It was, obviously, an amazing week. Then I come in here yesterday, and it was surreal, just how quiet it was, how much shorter the course played. The rough was way down compared, so it’s a little bit easier to score. I didn’t hit much better than last week, but there was much less stress.”
Following an even-par 72 Monday, Sanger started the day two strokes up on playing partner Eric Mabee of Pittsfield (Mass.). Two birdies on the front side expanded the margin to four, and Sanger kept applying the pressure on the back nine, leading by as many as eight.
Mabee, who ended Scott Berliner’s 10-year stranglehold on the Stroke Play title with a victory two years ago, was alone in second, three shots clear of Burden Lake’s Justin Hearley and Wyantenuck’s Marc Levesque. Berliner, now a teaching pro at Glens Falls, was fifth.
“He doesn’t miss any greens, so it’s hard to catch a guy that never makes a mistake,” said Mabee, who carded a 73. “I putted well enough to win, but I just didn’t hit the ball well enough to win, and he clearly did both. If I would have putted for him, he would have got 61-61.”
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