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Aaron Rai wins Wyndham Championship as leader implodes down stretch
Aaron Rai received the Wyndham Championship after a weird end.
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Max Greyserman coming to the end of a loopy lengthy day, but it surely was all going his manner.
Beginning the day one again of Matt Kuchar after practically taking pictures 59 within the second spherical Friday night, Greyserman pulled out forward three-quarters of the best way by means of Sunday on the Wyndham Championship finale thanks to a few eagles over the third and fourth rounds. The third of which approaching the thirteenth gap of the fourth spherical, his thirty first of the day, when he spun a wedge again from 91 yards for a duce.
It was seven minutes to 7 p.m. ET with nearly 75 minutes till sundown on a day that started for Greyserman at 9:40 a.m. after heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Debby worn out Thursday play, forcing the third and fourth rounds to each be held Sunday.
He doubled his result in 4 pictures as he headed to the tee of Sedgefield Nation Membership’s hardest gap and raced to play the final 5.
Then, golf occurred.
Greyserman wiped his tee shot on the 14th gap out of bounds, then compounded it by enjoying his 4th shot right into a bunker and ended up making a quadruple bogey. Two holes later, after rebounding with a birdie to regain the lead, he four-putted the sixteenth inexperienced for a double.
That opened the door for Aaron Rai. Rai was main the chase for second all day as Greyserman raced out forward, however because the rookie struggled, the veteran hung robust. On the 72nd, after the solar had already set, Rai threw a dart of an iron from 200 yards into the center of the inexperienced, rolling out to only seven toes. He drained the putt to slam the door shut on Greyserman within the fairway and win the Wyndham Championship for his first PGA Tour victory.
Rai’s win won’t technically be official till Monday morning as Kuchar who was one over for the ultimate spherical, elected to not end Sunday night and can full his closing gap Monday. He was the one participant to not full the ultimate spherical Sunday.
However Rai’s victory was solely the results of the weird flip of occasions for Greyserman that began after he holed out on 13 for eagle.
After holing out, Greyserman stood on the 14th tee, a burley 509-yard par-4 that’s performed as the toughest gap this week, for practically 10 minutes whereas he waited for Kuchar and Chad Ramey to complete the thirteenth.
When it was lastly time for him to hit, he took a mighty lash on the ball with driver. As quickly as his head got here up, his proper hand got here off the membership and pointed proper. He was disgusted at what he noticed.
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“FORE!” the very last thing a PGA Tour rookie trying to find his first win needs to shout with 5 holes left to play in a event.
The primary bounce was a large one off the cart path, up into the bushes farther proper. When it got here down, it was properly out of bounds.
“[He] was ready there for thus lengthy,” mentioned CBS’ Trevor Immeleman, shocked at what he had simply seen.
With one swing, the 2 pictures he had simply picked up on the final gap have been principally worn out and he nonetheless needed to deal with the 14th.
Greyserman reloaded with one other pellet and ripped it. This one was a seed. The published recorded it at 183 mph ball velocity up the fitting aspect, however this one was turning left. An excessive amount of. The ball simply barely cleared the bunker within the nook of the dogleg within the fairway however nestled within the thick Bermuda tough. He wanted Kuchar’s assist to search out it.
With 186 yards to the inexperienced, there was no likelihood Greyserman might advance the ball to the inexperienced. However there was a large cross bunker quick that he needed to layup wanting. His caddie reminded him that he had 110 yards to the entrance of it.
Absolutely he wouldn’t compound his error additional by laying up too far?
He hacked out. His shoulders dropped as quickly as he regarded up.
“Oh, he hasn’t simply completed that?” Immelman requested. “You can also make a nasty swing off the tee, get a little bit unfortunate with the cartpath, however that mistake proper there? That’s inexcusable.”
Issues have been going from dangerous to worse as Greyserman’s ball landed to the fitting, however took a tough bounce again to the left and down into the huge sand entice. It was shut sufficient to convey to the lip into play once you consider he was nonetheless 74 yards from the opening.
There aren’t many more durable pictures in golf.
Greyserman took a brief iron and tried to blast his ball out and up the inexperienced. It didn’t make the entrance and plopped down wanting the inexperienced with no roll.
From there, he stabbed at his chip shot, caught it too steep and it stored working, 10 toes by. His putt for a triple, the putt that might have preserved his as soon as safe 4-shot lead, simply slid previous the low aspect of the cup.
He tapped in for a lead-evaporating quadruple-bogey 8.
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In a single gap, he went from being 4 pictures up with 5 holes to play to tied with 4 holes to play.
Fortunately for Greyserman, the par-5 fifteenth was enjoying because the second-easiest gap on the course and he was nonetheless tied with Rai for the lead.
He roasted one other tee shot down the left aspect of the golf green after which hit an ideal 4-iron into the center of the inexperienced in two. He two-putted for birdie to regain a one-shot lead.
His method on the subsequent, the par-3 sixteenth wasn’t spectacular, but it surely was secure and on the inexperienced. Absolutely he’d now steadied himself. In any case, he’d solely dropped one shot over the previous three holes.
Greyserman’s method had landed in the midst of the inexperienced, but it surely spun down the slope and left him 41 toes, up the hill. It’s not a putt you anticipate to make, however not one you anticipate a professional to three-putt both.
He motored the birdie putt three-feet-four-inches by, leaving a ticklish downhill putt for par. Now the ideas of a three-putt needed to enter.
That’s precisely what occurred. Greyserman was shocked as his putt caught the excessive lip, didn’t drop and trickled one other three toes away.
He remarked and missed that one too. The meltdown was full on now. Up to now 4 holes, he’d gone 2-8-4-5. Eagle-Quad-Birdie-Double. 4-shot lead, to one-shot deficit.
In the meantime, Rai bided his time. He made 4 birdies in a row on the entrance 9 to climb into competition. He added one other one at 12 however missed makable possibilities at 13, 16 and 17.
On 18, he lastly capitalized, whilst darkness fell. He birdie putt after the method by no means left the middle of the cup because it curled in. Greyserman watched from the golf green, as Rai was illuminated by the leaderboard wanting the 18th inexperienced, impassive.
Greyserman’s final gasp effort to gap his method at 18 to tie discovered the entrance left bunker and it was throughout.
“Performed adequate to form of run away with it,” Greyserman mentioned afterward, summing up his week. “Clearly stuff occurs in golf that typically it’s not meant to be typically.”
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