Jason Day won his first PGA Tour tournament in five years on Sunday, shooting a 9-under 62 to beat Austin Eckroat and Si Woo Kim by one stroke at the AT&T Byron Nelson.
Day, winless in 105 tries since the 2018 Wells Fargo, claimed his first outright lead with a chip-in for birdie at the par-4 12th, breaking a tie at 20 under with local favourite Scottie Scheffler.
Day finished 23 under par on Mother’s Day, a little more than a year after losing his mother to cancer, and ended his win drought the week before the PGA Championship.
The 2015 PGA was the sole major among the 35-year-old Australian’s 13 victories. Day’s first PGA Tour win came in 2010 at the Nelson.
C.T. Pan ended at 21-under 263 after scoring two eagles on the back nine in a career-low 62, including driving the green on the par-4 14th and sinking a 24-foot putt. His eagle on the par-5 18th brought him within one stroke of Day.
Scheffler ended at 20 under par with a final-round 65 following a par on 18, where his second shot had struck the lip of a fairway bunker and stuck in it on his way to a bogey the day before.
Ryan Palmer, a 46-year-old Texan who lives nearby, shot 68 and ended four shots down, attempting to become the oldest PGA Tour champion since Phil Mickelson won the 2021 PGA at the age of 50.
With the hardest rain falling at the conclusion of an intermittently wet final round, Day placed his approach at 18 within 3 feet. Kim’s short birdie putt prompted Day to tap in before greeting his children and wife, who is expecting their fifth child.
Kim, who shot 63 and was 22 under par alongside Eckroat, was attempting to make it four South Korean winners in a row at the Nelson. K.H. Lee, the two-time reigning winner, finished 11 under par with a 67, his best round of the week.
Sung Kang was the winner in 2019. Because of the epidemic in 2020, the Nelson was cancelled.
Eckroat, a 24-year-old Oklahoma rookie looking for his first tour win, was two strokes down on the 18th fairway when his approach landed 68 feet from the pin. Eckroat settled for a 65 after his eagle try fell 6 feet short.
Marty Dou of China, playing on his home course and chasing his maiden tour victory, scored 67 to finish 20 under. Before a double-bogey on No. 8 when his second shot flew out of bounds over the green, he was one of the first two to go that low.
Tyrrell Hatton, the world No. 17 in the Nelson field, was joined at 20 under by Scheffler, the second-ranked player who might have surpassed Jon Rahm for No. 1 with a win.
More in Sports: https://buzzing.today/sports/
Photo Credits: https://commons.wikimedia.org/