Ex-ASU player Murray wins 1st PGA Tour title
OPELIKA, Ala. - Rookie Grayson Murray won the Barbasol Championship on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title, holing a 5-foot par putt on the final hole for a one-stroke victory.
Murray closed with a 3-under 68 to edge Chad Collins on Grand National’s Lake Course. The 23-year-old former Wake Forest and Arizona State player set up the winning par with a 40-plus foot putt from below the hole. He finished at 21-under 263.
“I was in control,” said Murray, who nabbed $630,000 for the win. “I didn’t get out of my game plan once. I was going to let them make the mistakes instead of myself. I was going to make them have to birdie the last hole, or the last few holes. I was playing for par on 17 and 18. I knew if I parred those, they’d have to do something special to beat me.”
Murray missed the cut last week at the John Deere Classic and arrived in Alabama on Sunday to prepare. It paid off, the win securing him a spot in the PGA Championship in his home state of North Carolina though not the Masters.
Murray came in ranked 124th, with the top 125 qualifying for the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Collins closed with a 68 two days after posting one of the tournament’s two rounds of 60. A tap-in for par on No. 18 left him waiting to see if Murray would stumble.
Collins had a run of four birdies in five holes leading into the 18th. He missed a 6-footer with a shot at another one and a potential tie with Murray.
“I gave myself an opportunity,” he said. “It was a nervy bad putt. It wasn’t obviously what I wanted, but to put yourself in that position, that’s ultimately what you’re trying to do. And the more times I’m able to do that and put myself in that situation, maybe one day it will be my day. Just today it wasn’t.”
Collins tied for fourth at The Honda Classic and his best previous finish was third last year in the Texas Open.
“It’s my best finish ever out here on tour, had the best round I’ve ever had on tour,” he said. “You gain tons of confidence from this going forward.’’
LPGA Tour
SYLVANIA, Ohio - In-Kyung Kim rallied to win the Marathon Classic to become the second two-time winner this season on the LPGA Tour.
Two strokes behind 18-year-old Nelly Korda entering the round, Kim birdied six of the first nine holes and finished with an 8-under 63 for a four-stroke victory over Lexi Thompson.