Shane Lowry’s week ended in a disappointing note at the RBC Canadian Open as a closing one-over 71 saw him slip down to T29, but the week belonged to Bud Cauley who won at the 239th time of asking.
Lowry began the day four back and in need of a fast start if he was to overtake the 11 players ahead of him on the leaderboard, but the uphill task got so much tougher when he bogeyed the par-5 opener.
He did managed to reach the turn in red figures after birdies on three and eight, but any chance of a back-nine charge to claw his way into the mix ended when he made back-to-back bogeys on 10 and 11.
He signed off with a birdie on the par-5 closing hole, but not before bogeying the 17th and he had to settle for a share of 29th place before turning his sole focus to Shinnecock Hills and this week’s U.S. Open.
Bud Cauley took the lead with a birdie chip on the par-4 12th and held on to win in the wind and rain, eight years after his career nearly ended in a car accident at the Memorial Tournament.
The 36-year-old was zero-for-238 in his PGA Tour career to that point – but was just two years back on the premier American circuit after the accident.
“There were times when I was hurt that we really weren’t sure if I was going to be able to play again,” said Cauley, who was a passenger in a car when he sustained six broken ribs, a collapsed right lung and a fractured left leg.
Cauley closed with a 5-under 65 to get to 17-under 263. He began the round a stroke behind Jackson Suber, and ended up beating Matt Fitzpatrick by two shots.
“That’s a moment I’ve thought a lot about. Even last year a couple times when I was in contention my family wasn’t with me and it would always crossed my mind that hopefully for my first win everyone would be here,” Cauley said. “I had to try to not think about it a lot today. Obviously, with them being here and I was playing well, I really had to think almost on every hole about staying focused and not thinking about that celebration if I were to win.”
Cauley started his back-nine birdie run with a shot to 4 feet on the 206-yard 11th. He added the hole-out from 93 feet on No. 12, then made a 13 1/2-footer on No. 13 and a 15-footer on No. 15 – both par 4s. After a bogey on the par-4 17th, he parred the par-5 18th.
Matt Fitzpatrick eagled the final hole to shoot a 64 that lifted him into sole possession of second and resumed top spot in the FedEx Cup rankings.
“I would have taken it at the start of the week,” Fitzpatrick said. “I felt like there was a lot of good stuff in there, just needed to have it come out. My putting was a little bit of a struggle last week and I feel like I got a bit of a better process for what I’m working on this week, and that showed today, I putted really solid.”
Viktor Hovland finished third at -14, one behind Fitzpatrick, while Brooks Koepka withdrew prior to the final round having struggled to grip the club on Saturday where he received on-course treatment for the ailment which he admitted he’d never experienced before.
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