Birdie binge propels driverless Stenson
GREENSBORO, North Carolina — Henrik Stenson kept making birdies on the back nine at the Wyndham Championship on Sunday.
In the end, they added up to a tournament record — and his first victory of the year.
Stenson closed with a 6-under 64 for a one-stroke victory in the final event of the PGA Tour regular season.
The 2013 FedEx Cup champion finished at 22-under 258 at Sedgefield Country Club, breaking the course’s 72-hole record set by Carl Pettersson in 2008 and matched last year by Kim Si-woo.
The Swede earned $1,044,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points for his sixth win on tour and his first since the 2016 British Open.
“It’s certainly a good time to start firing,” Stenson said. “We know the kind of damage you can do in the playoffs. If you get hot and keep on playing well, you have a chance to challenge.”
Stenson said he left his driver in his locker all week — “It’s a little anxious to get out there and start getting some air time next week,” he quipped of the club — and certainly didn’t need it on the par-70 Sedgefield course.
For the second straight day, he had four birdies in a fivehole stretch on the back nine.
Ollie Schniederjans shot a 64 to finish second. Webb Simpson was 18-under after a 67.
“I had to keep on making birdies because Ollie was surely not backing down,” Stenson said,
He had three consecutive birdies on Nos 15-17 — leaving a 20-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole about a foot short — after he and Schniederjans were both at 19-under.
Stenson’s 30-foot birdie putt on No 17 moved him to 22-under.
He needed it, because Schniederjans kept the pressure on him.
The 24-year-old sank a 40-foot birdie putt on No 17 and added another birdie on the par-4 18th hole after placing his second shot two feet from the pin.
“I thought I had a two-shot cushion, and as I walked over to the 18th hole and looked around I said, ‘Oh, OK, (Schniederjans) birdied it as well,” Stenson said.
“So I knew I better scramble a par to get the win.”
With Schniederjans watching the television broadcast and hoping for a tie, Stenson rolled a 35-foot birdie putt on No 18 off the right edge of the cup, then drained a threefooter to end it.
“When I stuffed it (on No 18), I thought that’s probably going to be a playoff,” Schniederjans said. “And he birdied 17 and got par on 18. Hat’s off to him — he had a great finish, too. Just one short.”
Low scores and tight leaderboards once again were the norm at Sedgefield.
With seven holes left for the final pairing, four players — Stenson, Schniederjans, Ryan Armour and Kevin Na — shared the lead at 18-under.
“It was anyone’s tournament on the back nine,” Stenson said.
Stenson moved to 19-under with a birdie on the 13th and Schniederjans joined him with a remarkable recovery for birdie on the 15th.
His second shot fell off a canopy covering the gallery and landed in a greenside bunker, but he chipped to two feet of the flagstick and converted the putt.
The other subplot at Sedgefield was the push by the bubble players to qualify for the playoffs that start next week at The Northern Trust for the top 125 on the points list.
Geoff Ogilvy, who was at No 125, finished at 11-under and earned enough points to move to No 116.
And Martin Flores, who started at No 139, jumped to No 118 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2014 after a 63 highlighted by a holein-one on the par-3 16th.
JJ Henry, Harold Varner III and Rory Sabbatini also played their way into the top 125.
“I was very aware that I needed to be somewhere inside the top 10,” Flores said. “So I was able to get off to a great start and just kept it going all day.”