Photos By Kyle Coburn/NAPGT :: Story by Matt Byrne

July 24, 2007 (Plymouth, MA)—A seemingly insurmountable lead separated Dustin Cone from Geoff Sisk in the final round of the Atlantic Open when at five shots back with five holes to play, the door Cone so patiently closed on Sisk swung wide open.

Cone looked to be cruising toward his second straight week in the NAPGT winner’s circle when he made eight at the par five fourteenth.

His tee shot kicked into the woods when it landed on the mound of a bunker; Cone then declared his lie in the trees unplayable. He took his one stroke penalty and chipped out, lying three in the fairway. His fourth shot sailed over the green, with not one, but two wedges chalked before his ball came to rest on the green. Two putts later, eight.

“There was never a point when I thought I was out of it,” Sisk said afterward. “The only thing you can do to control his play is by hitting good golf shots.”

And Sisk followed through; a streak of birdies followed Cone’s par-five fiasco, going three under in his last four holes.

Unfortunately for Cone, a bogey followed his snow man, with Sisk answering on the same hole with a birdie, eliminating any lead. Both players remained tied when they birdied the sixteenth. Sisk made his last move on the seventeenth, going one up after a birdie on the par three seventeenth.

And one stroke ahead was how Sisk would stay through the fifty-fourth hole. Cone’s last chance came and went when he missed a twenty foot birdie putt on eighteen that would have forced a play-off. Both went on to par their final hole, with Sisk’s one shot lead remaining the better.

“I knew Goeff would two-putt. I thought [my birdie putt] was going to break left and it didn’t,” Cone said. “Every time I played with him he’s been steady.”

Cone, 24, a Bennington, VT, resident, has steadily improved this season. After missing the cut at his first appearance in June at the Atkinson Open, Cone then tied for fourth at Blackstone, and went on to win the Crumpin-Fox Open in Bernardston, MA.

Sisk, who is coming off a stellar 2006 season, is experiencing a slower start this year, but wasn’t focused on the minutia.

“The key is to prepare yourself for tour school which comes up in October. Keep building along those lines and hopefully good things will happen,” Sisk said.