Jhonnatan Vegas secured his first Tour victory since 2017 in dramatic fashion with birdie on the final hole of the week at the 3M Open in Minnesota. The Venezuelan held a single stroke lead heading into the final round and was pushed all the way to the 72nd hole, just beating Max Greyersman to victory at the death.
Seamus Power couldn’t make progress on the final day with an even par final round and on a day where there were scoring opportunities, the Waterford man couldn’t match some of the others putting in low numbers. He went around to trade a single dropped shot per nine with strokes gained back on the par-5 6th and again on the 15th hole. Another solid day of 71 saw him tidy up his week tied for 37th spot. This means he slips back three positions in the FedEx Cup standings to 69th. Power will have work to do in the Wyndham Championship after the Olympics to ensure he makes the run into the Tour Championship at East Lake.
Vegas himself now sits in 67th place in the rankings after his timely victory but he was pushed all the way by Greyersman, who’s Sunday charge of eight under 63 threatened to take the week to extra holes before Vegas’ birdie on the par-5 18th.
“Wow, yes, seven years. In my head it doesn’t really seem that it’s been that long, but obviously it’s been seven years,” said Vegas after his win. “You know, it hasn’t been easy, that’s for sure. It’s been a lot of grinding, a lot of dealing with injuries, a lot of headaches, but these are the moments that you get up every day and you work hard, you do all the right things because nothing feels better than this.”
Tied for third on -15 were Maverick McNealy and Matt Kuchar, who now sits in 113th in the season standings and with work to do to sneak into the top-70 in Greensboro, in two weeks.
“No, certainly making the Playoffs, keeping my job for next year, they’re all checkmarks,” said Kuchar when probed on his ambitions heading into the week. “I normally like to check these off a lot earlier in the year than right now, but its the bed I made. Certainly helpful. It is on my mind, it is something that I know is kind of back there. I don’t want to miss the Playoffs, don’t want to miss Top-125, all those things you tend to try to check off somewhere on the west coast, but here I am late in the year trying to still check them off.”
With the Olympics taking centre stage next week, the focus will be on Team Ireland and Olympic Gold before getting back down to business in the States for the sharp end of the FedEx Cup season.
Le Golf National plays host next week before the PGA circus rolls into North Carolina and Sedgefield Country Club with Lucas Glover looking to retain his Wyndham Championship title between the 8th and 11th of August.
Leave a comment