Unheralded American Boo Weekley dropped astonishing par chip-ins on the last two holes of a wind-marred final round to win the United States PGA Verizon Heritage tournament on Monday.
Weekley fired a final-round 68, three under par, to capture his first PGA crown, completing 72 holes at 14-under-par 270 to defeat South African Ernie Els by one stroke and become the fourth first-time winner on the tour in 2007.
”This is unreal. It’s unreal,” Weekley said.
What truly tested reality were the closing holes for Weekley and Els in a final round that was halted on Sunday by severe winds. Gusts by the closing seaside holes were only slightly better for Monday’s morning restart at the $5,4-million event.
Weekley, who took a bogey at the 16th, botched his first chip at the raised green on the par-three 17th, but lofted his second effort perfectly and rolled home an unlikely par.
Els followed with a tee shot that landed behind a television tower, forcing him to drop and pitch from tall, wispy grass into a greenside bunker. He went up and down, but the bogey dropped him two strokes off Weekley’s pace.
At the 18th, Weekley chipped across the green and the ball stopped in a side-hill patch of grass. Only a matter of centimetres kept Weekley’s ball from rolling down into rocks along the beach shore and a horrid fate.
Weekley needed to manage at least a bogey to avoid falling level with Australian Stephen Leaney, who finished third on 272 after a final-round 68. Instead, Weekley sank another improbable long chip for par and kept his two-stroke margin over Els, who was walking to the 18th tee. It proved to be the decisive stroke.
Els was just off the fairway and needed to hole his 150-yard approach shot on a wind-whipped green to force a playoff.
On a green that 75% of players missed thanks to the wind, the toughest hole on the course nearly surrendered the magical shot. But Els’s ball rolled to a halt two feet from the cup and Weekley had his victory.
Leaney eagled the par-five second and followed with four birdies in a row to seize the lead from Jerry Kelly, but he sandwiched bogeys at 13 and 15 around a birdie and then made a double bogey at 16 to hand Weekley the lead for good.
It was the first Monday finish at the event since 2001 when Argentina’s Jose Coceres beat American Billy Mayfair in a play-off, giving the South American his first US PGA triumph.
Kelly began the round with a one-stroke lead, but fired a 77 to fall back. He has not won a US PGA event since 2002. He, Els and playing partner Kevin Na had just hit their second shots of the final round Sunday when play was halted. — Sapa-AFP