Lee books a ticket to the PGA
South Korean Kyoung-Hoon Lee won his first PGA Tour event on Sunday, shooting a 66 for a three-stroke win at the AT&T Byron Nelson in McKinney, Texas.
The 29-year-old Lee entered the day in second, one shot behind 54-hole leader Sam Burns, but put the pressure on his playing partner immediately.
He birdied five of the first eight holes at TPC Craig Ranch before a bogey at No 9, then added three birdies and a bogey on the back nine.
A birdie at No 17 gave him a three-stroke lead and breathing room on the final hole, putting the topping on the tournament with a birdie at No 18 for a 25-under 263.
Whatever he had rehearsed to celebrate his first win was lost in the moment.
“Before a lot of imagine when I win, like what is that,” he said through a translator. “Like, yeah, like fist pump or I imagine a lot of things, but too excited over there.
Almost forget everything.
“So excited, yeah.”
With the win, Lee earned a spot in next week’s PGA Championship at The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
After shooting rounds of 65-6269, Burns could muster only a twounder 70 on Sunday to finish in second at 22-under.
The four-foot putt for birdie on the final hole moved him out of a four-way tie and into second on his own.
Behind Lee and Burns in a tie for third were four players, including two who made a big rise up the leaderboard on Sunday.
Patton Kizzire fired the day’s low round, a nine-under 63, to climb 23 places on the day, while Daniel Berger shot a 64 to move up from 18th place. Scott Stallings (66) and South African Charl Schwartzel (68) also finished on 21-under.
Burns was going for his second win this month after winning the Valspar Championship on May 2.
Despite the second-place finish, he was happy with the results.
He also was happy for Lee.
“Yeah, he played awesome. I was really proud of him,” Burns said. “When it was tough, he hung in there and he got off to a great start.”
Jordan Spieth, who was in contention after firing a 66 on Saturday, shot a 71 to finish in a four-way tie for ninth at 18-under. He was playing for the first time since the Masters after testing positive for Covid-19.
“I guess I got back into tournament golf. Played well, hit a lot of good shots,” Spieth said.
“You know, rusty mistakes here and there, and then I just didn’t putt as well as I would like to.
“So, stroke was a little off to start, and I’ll work on that for next week for sure.
“But coming into the week, if you told me top 10, I would probably take it. I didn’t know where anything stood.”
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