A bumper 36-hole final day at the Wyndham saw England’s Aaron Rai go 68-64 on Sunday to clinch his first Tour title in dramatic style.
Play was suspended for darkness with the final group on the 18th but, that two of the three players opted to finish, leaving just overnight leader Matt Kuchar, sit seven shots back, having to come back on Monday morning. That means Kuchar’s unique run of 17 straight tour playoffs comes to an end.
Seamus Power finished up the week in a tie for 28th spot securing his spot in the FedEx top 70. The Waterford man had a final day of rounds of 69 and 66 after the weather disruption earlier in the week threatened to disrupt the defence of his ranking spot.
A final round with five birdies including three-in-a-row from the par-4 14th with just a single dropped shot on his first, the 10th hole, saw Power secure his place in the post season action on 66th in the standings. He will have work to do over the coming weeks as the numbers get reduced further to the top 50 following the first playoff event as the tour heads towards East Lake for the Tour Championship at the end of the month.
It had looked as though Max Greyserman had the Wyndham Championship wrapped up before a back nine collapse saw an eagle on the par-4 13th followed by a quadruple bogey 8 on the following hole. Greyserman rallied to gain a stroke back on the subsequent hole, before another double coming on the par-3 16th. His lead evaporated and allowed Rai to head to the 18th after a five shot swing saw a four-stroke advantage turn into a one shot deficit.
Horschel was watching those scoreboards that Rai tried to avoid seeing and knew a four-shot deficit had turned into a one-stroke lead as the two stepped to the 18th tee as the shadows lengthened. Did he want to know where he stood, Horschel asked, and Rai indicated he didn’t. So, he just told his buddy to stay strong.
“He was very encouraging to me walking down that hole, which was extremely nice of him, just being extremely positive,” said Rai, as he sat beside the gleaming silver Sam Snead Trophy. “It shows how class of an act he truly is. … It was great to share that with him.”
“And even in the score recording afterwards when I was told that we had won again, I felt really emotional, and it was really nice to share that moment with him.”
Eighteen under par was the magic number for Rai, the Wolverhampton native who adds this big win to his two DP World Tour titles and three Challenge Tour victories. He would claim the title by two strokes from Greyersman, while a duo of J.J Spaun and Ryo Hisatune make up the top three one further back on -15.
Greyersman was magnanimous when speaking about his disastrous back nine, “I’m just going to walk away that I played really, really good golf, executed really well, had probably a four, four or five shot lead, I don’t know, four shot lead,” he said I had a four shot lead with five holes to go? If you’re doing that in a PGA TOUR event, you’re doing something exceptionally well so that’s what I’m going to walk away with.”
“And also making that birdie right after making that 8, I’m going to walk away with that. On the next hole, pin was cut on a lot of slope. Didn’t really hit terrible putts late in the day, lipped out, stuff happens. I’m just going to walk away with more confidence, look at the positive things and learn from the mistakes,” he added.
Next up for the top 70 is the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis as the big hitters return from Paris for the 20 million purse of the playoff rounds. The business end of the tour will kick off from the 15th to the 18th of August as the battle for the top 5 heats up.
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