Greensboro, NC – Scott Brown began the final round of the Forest Oaks Classic with a one-shot lead over playing partner Matt Hendrix. After nine holes, Brown had stretched his lead to five shots over a collection of players. While certainly not "choking" on his own, Brown watched his lead shrink to four shots, then three, then two and then to one with two holes to play. While he was making pars, the field was making birdies on a Forest Oaks Country Club course that was picture perfect for the final round. By day's end, Brown was allowed to two-putt from 8 feet for the win by a shot, but it sure seemed easier nine holes prior.

Brown, playing alongside Hendrix and first-round leader Kyle Dobbs, played steady-if-unspectacular golf on the front nine with birdies at Nos. 4 and 6 and pars on the other seven holes. His boring scorecard was good enough to make him appear dominant as Hendrix was struggling to a 2-over 38, Dobbs was dropping off the leaderboard and the rest of the field was too far back to begin with to make a dent in his lead. Five shots with nine holes to play? Sounds easy enough.

Matt Hendrix"I still kept trying to push myself. I try to set mini-goals when I have that much of a lead, so my goal was to try to get to 20 (under)," said Brown, a North Augusta, SC native.

At 17-under for the event and possibly trying to practice his victory speech, getting to 20-under was not that much of a reach.

"I birdied the par-5, No. 11, and got to 18-under. But then I doubled the par-3 13th," said Brown. "I hit a good shot, but it went long of the green. Then I hit two bad chips and missed a 4-footer for bogey."

That double-bogey coincided with the rest of the field deciding it was time to wheel and deal since they were simply playing for second place, or so they thought.

The first player to jump on the opportunity was Brad Klapprott of Lakeland, FL. The former Nationwide Tour player birdied 12, 13 and 14 to get to 6-under on his round and 15-under for the tournament. An untimely bogey at the par-4 14th was later erased by a closing birdie at the par-5 18th and a clubhouse lead at 15-under 201.

As Klapprott waited, Brown made his pars. First on No. 14 and then on 15; however, there were still other players in his party.

Little known Joel Lynn of Hope Mills, NC played the game of roller coaster in Friday's final round. Beginning the day at 10-under 134, Lynn turned at 1-under 35 to get to 11-under and promptly birdied No. 10 to join a massive group of players at 12-under par. Much like Klapprott, the former Fayetteville State University product ripped off a trifecta of birdies on 14, 15 and 16 before going bogey-birdie over his final two holes. At that point, it was Lynn and Klapprott in the clubhouse, waiting to find out their fate.

Chip Lynn"I told my wife that I like to have a five-shot lead on the last hole, but those guys played good coming down the stretch," said Brown, who not only had to worry about the clubhouse leaders, but now had a charging Hendrix right next to him.

Hendrix quickly made up for ground lost on the front nine. A birdie at No. 11 brought him back to 13-under for the event, but Brown's double-bogey at 13 opened a door Hendrix didn't even know existed one hour earlier. The Clemson University "All American" promptly birdied the next two holes to get to within one of his former high school rival in the greater Aiken, SC area.

"When you've got a five-shot lead, you don't want to do anything crazy and make big numbers. I was still trying to make birdies, but I was veering away (from the hole) a little bit," said Brown. "I was hitting it to 20 feet instead of firing right at it."

Matching pars on 16 and 17 brought Brown and Hendrix to the par-5 finishing hole, where both players would come up just short of reaching the green in two. Hendrix's flop shot to a back right pin carried a shade too long and left him with 15-feet to tie, while Brown's bunker shot barely cleared the lip before proceeding to roll some 35 feet towards the cup.

When Hendrix's putt missed low and left, Brown was able to two-putt from 8 feet for the win, his second of the season.

"I putted well this year. I worked hard all season on putting. The last few months I've just rolled it really well," said Brown, who overtook 2009 Nationwide Tour winner Tom Gillis at the top of the eGolf Tour money list with just over $88,000 in earnings, thanks to his $30,000 first-place check.

"I'm just happy to win again. I played real solid today."

Klapprott, Lynn and Hendrix each earned $14,666 for their T2 efforts. The runner-up finish was the second of the season for Hendrix. In April, he finished second to Tom Gillis in the Savannah Quarters Championship.

Last week's winner, Clint Jensen, carded a bogey-free, final-round 66 to vault from a logjam and into solo fifth place to earn $8,500.

One of Jensen's playoff victims last week, Jeremy Pope, finished solo sixth at 13-under 203 and earned $7,300.

• Special thanks goes to Forest Oaks Head Golf Professional Anthony Miller, Willow Creek Director of Golf Jim Brotherton, and their respective staffs for coordinating this event and hosting the tour and our players for the week. Both superintendents put in extra hours preparing their courses for the event. Thank you to Forest Oaks Head Golf Course Superintendents Bob Swanson and Matt Ayer, as well as Willow Creek Head Golf Course Superintendent David Johnson for their efforts in presenting two great venues.

• The tour will take the next week off before heading to Columbia, SC for the fourth $300,000 tournament this year with the Columbia Championship on August 5-8.