Poulter lets lead slip in Harbour Town
Ian pou lt er allowed the chance of a second title in three weeks to slip away in Harbour Town as Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira claimed his first PGA tour win in the RBC Heritage.
Poulter’s win in the Houston Open earned him a place in the Masters field at Augusta and the Englishman held a one-shot lead coming into the final round in South Carolina.
But he shot his worst round of the competition, a fourover 75, to slip back to a share of seventh while Kodaira came through a three-hole play-off against South Korea’s Si-woo Kim.
Poulter was one under at the turn but bogeyed five holes on the back nine to tumble down the leaderboard.
Kodaira, 28, picked up strokes at each of the first three holes and finished five under for the day to thrust himself into the mix having started the round in 12th place.
Both Kodaira and Kim bogeyed the par-three 17th in their final round to finish locked on 12 under for 72 holes but the tournament was settled when the pair revisited it head-tohead.
After two attempts at the 18th ended in stalemate fours, Kodaira sank a 25-foot birdie putt to land the winner’s cheque.
Kodaira accepted full membership on the tour at the close of play as well as improving his bank balance by more than US $1 million.
Bryson Dechambeau and Luke List were tied for third one shot back, with fellow Americans Webb Simpson and Billy Horschel next in line.