England’s Aaron Rai has broken through for his maiden PGA Tour win after shooting a closing 64 on a gruelling day at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.
Rai’s two-stroke victory, which came by playing 36 holes on the final day at Sedgefield Country Club, will be largely associated with Max Greyserman’s misfortune as the rookie’s four-shot lead with four holes to play evaporated with dusk fast approaching.
Rai’s first title on the tour came in his 89th appearance. He finished at 18-under-par 262 after posting a third-round 68 earlier in the day. He was bogey-free for the last round, sinking a 2.5-metre birdie putt on the last hole.
“Truly a dream come true,” he said.
Rai, who moved to 25th in the FedEx Cup standings, had only two birdies across the last 12 holes.
“I did just a good job sticking to what we do well,” he added.
“Greyserman (66, 69), bidding for his first tour victory in his 23rd start, ended in second place at 16 under after some spectacular misadventure.
J.J. Spaun (66, 64) and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune (64, 67) tied for third at 15 under.
Greyserman had two eagles in the final round, including one from 91 yards out on the fairway on the 13th hole to lead by four.
But his quadruple-bogey 8 on No.14 quickly changed that. His tee shot went out of bounds after bouncing off a cart-path and it deteriorated quickly from there.
He recovered to regain the lead on the next hole with a birdie. Then came a four-putt double-bogey on the par-3 16th to give the lead back to Rai, who was playing in the group in front of him.
“Played really, really well this week. … Obviously, stuff happens sometimes in golf that it’s not meant to be,” said Greyserman, who vowed to get right back to work.
Greyserman, 29, was runner-up two weeks earlier in the 3M Open. He notched his fourth top-10 result of the year.
“Hopefully, it will be my time next time,” he said.
Greyserman’s third-round 66 had put him three strokes in front of amateur Luke Clanton, who rallied with a career-low 62, entering the fourth round.
Second-round leader Matt Kuchar (70 third round) was at 11 under for the tournament playing alongside Greyserman when he chose not to finish the final hole because of darkness. He was in a tie for 12th and will return on Monday.
Since the dawn of the FedEx Cup playoffs in 2007, Kuchar had qualified for every edition of the postseason, but he needed to win the tournament – the last of the regular season – in order to play next week’s FedEx St. Jude Classic.
For some golfers, Sunday’s endurance test began prior to the third round as they completed remaining holes from the second round.
The postponement of Thursday’s first round and another weather delay Friday created havoc for the tournament’s schedule.
Clanton, who played 39 holes on Sunday, finished in fifth place at 14 under after recording 62 and 69 for the last two rounds.
The three Australians in the field – Min Woo Lee, Cam Davis and Aaron Baddeley – all missed the halfway cut.
Lee and Davis are qualified in the top 70 to start the playoffs along with countrymen Jason Day and Adam Scott.