Herbert holds off Reed for Bermuda prize

A PGA Tour event unlike any other ended in a life-changing victory last night for gritty Australian Lucas Herbert, who held off Patrick Reed to add the Bermuda Championship to his Irish Open triumph in July. Fancy playing on an island paradise with over a $1million first prize, an invitation to the Masters and the PGA Championship for the winner, not to mention a three-year exemption to play on the richest circuit in golf? So many of the tour’s pampered pooches turned it down, citing all the hassles with overseas travel owing to Covid, they actually ended up with a field six players shy of the intended number of 132. As you can imagine, there were plenty of virtual unknowns who couldn’t get to Bermuda fast enough. It made for a fascinating tournament as a chorus line of characters, all possessing exotic back catalogues filled with toil and grind, glimpsed the promised land. They included Englishman David Skinns, who has earned a PGA Tour card for the first time at the age of 39. This was his third event of this wraparound 2021-22 season and he was enjoying the rarefied air of the top ten on Saturday, before being blown away like so many yesterday amid 30mph gusts and squalling showers. A 75 meant the Lincoln native settled for tied 34th. There was Canada’s Taylor Pendrith, married two weeks ago and here on his honeymoon. With two holes to play, imagine what must have been going through his mind as he stood a shot off the lead? But a seven on the 17th took away all the winner’s perks plus around $340,000 in prize money, to underline an age-old maxim: never play golf on your honeymoon. A better outcome concerned journeyman Jim Knous, playing on a medical exemption and needing a top 67 finish to gain a card for the entire season. The 31-year-old from Colorado birdied the last to make it. So to the exciting finale as former Masters champion Reed shot a 65 to post a challenging mark of 14 under par. Herbert (pictured), befitting a winner in Ireland, revelled in the daunting conditions. The fearless 25-year-old, who might well prove the next Aussie to win a major, birdied the 15th to get his nose in front and clinched his victory with a fine recovery from a greenside bunker to salvage par at the treacherous 16th. ‘From wondering what events I’d be able to play in next year to being able to pick and choose — wow, this means everything,’ said a grateful Herbert.