Third-round leader McCarron soars to 81

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RENO - Maybe it was bad swings. Maybe being the tournament host caught up to him.

Whatever it was, Scott McCarron went from first to a tie for 35th after shooting a final-round 81 at the 12th annual Reno-Tahoe Open Sunday at Montreux Golf & Country Club.

McCarron went out in 2-over-par 38, and then ran into some severe problems on the back nine.

It started with a bogey at the par-5 11th, and two holes later, he tripled the par-4 13th. After a bogey at 14, he double-bogeyed the par-3 16th.

COMING APART PART II

John Mallinger had a share of the lead for several holes on the front side when disaster struck on the par-5 9th.

Mallinger drove it in the left rough, and when the smoke finally cleared, he'd marked a quadruple-bogey 9 on his card. In one hole from 1-under-par to 3-over-par for the day.

Mallinger did come back with a birdie at No. 10, but the damage was done.

PAST CHAMPS

Kirk Triplett, who won the 2003 tourney, shot a 4-under 68 to finish 6-under-par for the tournament.

That beat out Will MacKenzie, the 2006 RTO champion, who shot a final-round 72 to finish at 5-under-par.

Steve Flesch (2007) also finished with a 72 and was 2-under-par for the event. John Rollins (2009) shot 1-over-par 73 and finished even for the tourney. Vaughn Taylor, the only two-time winner in RTO history, shot 1-under-par 71 and finished 1-under overall.

NICE FINISH

After starting out with a 4-over-par 76 on Thursday, Robert Gamez put on an impressive finish the last three days.

Gamez shot three consecutive 68s to finish at 8-under-par 280, earning him a top-10 finish. It was his best finish since he tied for third at the 2007 Children's Miracle Network Classic.

HOLE STATS

The par-3 7th was the toughest hole on Sunday, yielding only 33 birdies but 124 bogeys. It played to a 3.299.

The easiest hole was No. 4, a 518-yard par-5. It played to an average of 4.709.