Entering Thursday’s final round of the 94th Kentucky Open with a four-stroke lead, Rick Cochran III was fighting the battle between playing conservatively and playing not to lose.

But the mini-tour professional from Paducah heeded some advice from his uncle, Champions Tour player Russ Cochran, and found a way to control his own destiny.

Cochran wavered a bit with a 2-over-par 74 on a trying day at The Club at Olde Stone, but that was enough to maintain his cushion and win by four strokes with a three-day total of 8-under 208. He earned $10,000 for his efforts.

“I missed some putts and could’ve easily got upset,” Cochran said. “In the back of my mind, I kept saying, ‘This is my tournament to win,’ rather than, ‘I don’t want to lose.’ That really helped me down the stretch.”

Cochran finished ahead of Kris Maffet, Patrick Newcomb and Kyle Wilshire, who all ended the tournament with 4-under totals of 212.

Cochran said he reached out Wednesday to his uncle Russ, a former PGA Tour winner, to discuss joining a Latin American golf circuit this year if qualifying school doesn’t pan out.

Instead, Russ Cochran provided some advice for the present: Don’t let the Kentucky Open slip away by playing on your heels.

That’s a battle Rick Cochran, a 2009 graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, has been fighting for most of his professional career. He finally broke through in 2012 with a win at the NGA Tour’s Cherry Blossom Classic in Georgetown, where he pocketed $22,000.

Cochran also won the Kentucky State Amateur in 2005.

“I’ve probably had a half-dozen to a dozen tournaments where I’ve been up in the lead and faltered in the last round,” he said. “All that stuff put together helped me stay focused today when it wasn’t going well early. I matured a little bit because of my previous record (on the last day), and I hung in there.”

Cochran will play a Web.com Tour qualifier Monday in Knoxville, Tenn., he said, followed by a couple of NGA events.

But he was worried after Thursday’s start that he might not make those trips with as much momentum as planned. 

After recording one bogey and one double-bogey combined in his first two rounds, Cochran had three bogeys on the front nine Thursday. He calmed down with seven straight pars after his third bogey and played the back nine even.

“The wind picked up,” he said. “It was playing a little tougher, but I hit the ball pretty well. I just got on the wrong sides of some of those hole locations and had four three-putts, which is kind of out of character for me.”

Nine players shot under par Thursday, while the day’s best score was a 3-under 69 by four players. One of those was Elizabethtown’s Maffet, who made a charge at Cochran after starting the day 1 under overall.

Maffet chipped in for birdie on No. 13 to improve to 5 under for the tournament and closing the gap.

“That’s where I felt like, ‘This could be one of those days when everything just falls for you,’ ” Maffet said.

But things began to unravel for Maffet with bogeys on 15 and 17. He also missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th after a solid tee shot, he said.

“Cochran had a pretty good lead most of the day, so obviously I needed a little bit of help if anything was going to happen, anyway,” Maffet said. “But all in all, I’m extremely pleased, and hopefully I can keep playing that way if I play any more tournaments coming up.”

Newcomb, a two-time State Amateur champion and this year’s runner-up at Bowling Green Country Club, also quietly crept up the leaderboard with a 1-under 71. Wilshire, a University of Central Florida golfer and the tournament’s low amateur, shot an even-par 72.

“It was really bad early,” Newcomb said. “I made some long par putts just to keep some momentum going, keep me in the tournament with some kind of chance to make some money. Nothing good happened early … but I had good looks coming down the stretch. It was like a switch came on.”

The course’s conditions became more difficult Thursday, Newcomb said, which made it harder for players to gain any ground on Cochran, who wasn’t prone to mistakes.

“I thought if I could get to 9 under for the tournament, I could get close to Rick,” Newcomb said. “He’s going to be on cruise control – not pressing, not trying to make birdies. It was windy, the flags were tough, they moved some of the tees back. This was more of what we thought Olde Stone was going to play like than what it’s played the last couple of days.”

Cochran played in the final group with Jared Wolfe and Bowling Green’s Justin Perry, who were at 6 under and 5 under, respectively, entering the round. Wolfe shot a 77 and Perry shot a 76 as both finished at 1 under.

The best local finish was by Bowling Green’s Adam Gary, who tied for eighth with a three-day total of 214. Bowling Green’s Drake Duncan tied for 14th after carding a 3-under 69 on Thursday.