Gordonsville, Va. – Starting Friday’s final round of the eighth annual Spring Creek Classic with a five-shot lead, Richard Fountain of Raleigh, N.C. may have needed a spark to keep his interest level up while trying to run and hide from the field at host Spring Creek Golf Club.

That spark came in the form of a triple-bogey on the par-4 seventh that moved a five-shot cushion down to just two, in turn forcing Fountain back into game mode.

A birdie on the very next hole re-ignited what had been a dominant performance thus far, and carried the former Davidson Wildcat to a final-round 72 and a 13-under-par tally, good for his first tour title and the event’s $12,000 first-place prize.

Fountain’s week at award-winning Spring Creek began in idyllic fashion with rounds of 64-67—131 to reach 13-under par entering Friday’s third and final round.

Looking to jumpstart a rather sluggish sophomore campaign on the eGolf Gateway Tour, the Charlotte, N.C. resident birdied the tough par-4 third – thanks to a 30-foot putt – to help settle any early-round nerves.

At 14-under par and in complete control of the week, Fountain three-putted the par-4 sixth to drop back to 13-under overall, but still five clear of the field.

At that point, the wheels came off for 20 minutes.

Richard Fountain

A blocked tee shot on the par-4 seventh gave way to a third-shot jumper that soared over the green, which led to a pedestrian pitch and in turn wound up morphing into a two-putt triple-bogey.

“You know, I was thinking my third shot was going to come out dead after I made a mess of my tee shot and second shot, but it came out hot,” said Fountain. “It was just a really bad hole.”

To his credit, Fountain bounced back immediately with a birdie on the par-3 eighth after converting from 15 feet to recover one of the three lost shots on No. 7.

“That really got me thinking, ‘Okay, I’m back on track.’ I really wanted that one,” he said.

A solid par on the par-5 ninth kept him at 2-over for the day and 11-under overall, suddenly three shots ahead of the field with nine holes to go.

“I remembered back to Reno, where I played so well the first couple of rounds and then had one bad hole derail me. I think I started worrying about my swing, and I didn’t want to do that today,” said Fountain, citing his 18- and 36-hole leads at the tour’s Championship at Red Hawk last fall. “I was glad to get a birdie after that triple because I could have really made a mess of it.”

Fountain birdied the short par-5 12th to move to 12-under total, but suddenly had company in the form of a familiar friend.

Bo Andrews of Raleigh, N.C., who grew up with Fountain at Carolina Country Club in the state capital, birdied seven of his first 12 holes to reach 9-under par, then added another birdie on 16 to reach 10-under for the week.

Bo Andrews

The top player in Davidson College men’s golf history responded three holes later, draining a 30-foot birdie bomb on the par-4 15th to jump back up to 13-under for the week and in possession of a three-shot lead.

“I had so many good looks that I missed today, but then made two borderline bombs on Nos. 3 and 15,” he said. “Those two weren’t putts you were expecting to make. I just wanted to try to get back to under par on the day.”

As Fountain was birdieing 15, Andrews – a former standout at Georgia Tech – was closing with a birdie on the par-5 18th to post a course-record-tying 63 and an 11-under-par total in the clubhouse.

With a number on the board, Andrews sat on the back veranda to watch his friend come in, eyeing any possible opportunity at a playoff.

The Yellow Jacket nearly got that opportunity when Fountain failed to get up and down on the par-3 17th, leading to a late-round bogey that dropped him back to 12-under par, just one shot up on his Raleigh rival with one hole to go.

“I thought about laying back off the tee on 18, but it’s kind of narrow there and I’ve been hitting my driver so well this week that I just decided to go with it,” said Fountain, who hit an ideal tee shot on 18 to set up a routine lay-up for his second.

With this third shot, Fountain hit a wedge to 18 feet at the last, and needed just two putts to comfortably collect his first tour title.

After fighting his confidence and his swing for much of 2015, the 23-year-old fought no more, casually converting an unlikely putt to a tough back-left cup for a closing birdie and a final-round 72, good for a two-shot victory over Andrews.

“I was just trying to lag it up there, and it was only going about a foot or so past the hole, but it was great,” said Fountain. “It was awesome. I had been nervous the whole day for sure. Anyone who tells you he’s not nervous out there isn’t telling the truth.”

The $12,000 payday pushed Fountain’s 2015 earnings up to $24,700, good for 16th on the tour’s season-long money list.

More importantly, the win proved that the second-year pro does in fact belong after a stellar rookie campaign that offered little doubt, resulting in four top-10s – including a runner-up at the Sapona Ridge Classic.

A sluggish start to 2015 turned the corner with a T4 at last month’s Willow Creek Open, and fully evaporated after the win at Spring Creek took Fountain from contender to champion.

“This is huge. It makes me believe I can win out here, because there are so many good players in the field,” he said. “It just gives me a lot of confidence.”

Andrews wound up in solo-second place, earning $7,500 for the week.

The career-best finish was a continuation of solid play for the 24-year-old, who finished solo-seventh at the tour’s $200,000 Biggs Cadillac Buick GMC Open three weeks ago after holding the event’s 18-hole lead.

Grayson Murray

Web.com Tour member Ryan Sullivan of Winston-Salem, N.C. and Grayson Murray of Raleigh, N.C. finished tied for third at 10-under 206 – three shots back of Fountain. They each earned $5,368.

Sullivan, who earned his first tour title at the Sedgefield Classic in April, closed with the day’s second-lowest round – a 4-under 68 – to post his third-straight top-5 on the eGolf Gateway Tour.

The former UNC Wilmington golfer, who has conditional status on the PGA TOUR’s developmental circuit, has four top-10s in four starts this year for $28,178 in earnings and a 13th-place standing on the money list.

Murray, the much heralded junior golfer, played alongside Fountain throughout the final round and had an eagle pitch on 18 that would have put him at 12-under, but missed it and wound up settling for a par.

The 21-year-old made his pro debut at the Biggs Cadillac Buick GMC Open with a T16 finish before notching a career-best T3 effort at Spring Creek.

Murray, who shares the same swing coach as Fountain and Andrews in Ted Kiegel, shined as a teenager coming out of the junior ranks. He qualified for the match play portion of the U.S. Junior Amateur three times (2009, 2010 & 2011), qualified for the 2009 U.S. Amateur as a 15-year-old, and was the youngest player in the country to make the sectional qualifying round for the 2009 U.S. Open.

In 2010, he made the cut in the Web.com Tour’s Rex Hospital Open, in turn becoming the second player to make the weekend in the Tour’s 20-year history.

Adam Webb of Ridgeway, Va., Chris Epperson of Hilton Head Island, S.C. and Daniel Walker of nearby Earlysville, Va. finished in a three-way tie for fifth at 9-under 207. Each player earned $3,500 for the week.

• The tour would like to thank General Manager Brian Vincel, Head Golf Professional Kevin Haney and their staff for their outstanding help in conducting this tournament, and for their efforts in welcoming our players each and every year. Spring Creek is a cherished venue on the tour's schedule, and a big part of that has to do with the staff that helps to make the week run smoothly. An incredible job was done by Head Golf Course Superintendent David Callahan and his crew in presenting one of the most well-manicured courses in the country – without doubt – and offering our players a glimpse of PGA TOUR-like conditioning. Finally, this event is made possible through numerous volunteers and the willingness of the Spring Creek members to give up their course for the week. Thanks to all for your help.

• The eGolf Gateway Tour will head to Morganton, N.C. next week for the third annual Mimosa Hills Open, to be contested at Mimosa Hills Country Club on June 24-27, 2015.