Lee gets first Tour win, spot in the PGA Championship
K.H. Lee was more than happy to play through a steady downpour in the final round of the AT&T Byron Nelson, and didn’t mind waiting out a weather delay of more than two hours Sunday at McKinney, Texas.
The reward was the final spot next week in the PGA Championship.
Lee earned his first
PGA Tour victory and the chance to compete on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island in South Carolina, becoming the second consecutive Nelson winner from South Korea by finishing 25 under, three ahead of third-round leader Sam Burns.
Heavy rain fell most of the back nine for the leaders, with workers using squeegees to clear paths on greens and one ball stuck in the middle of a fast-moving stream on the 18th fairway.
Most of the standing water was gone when play resumed 2 hours, 23 minutes later. Lee missed a par putt on 16 to cut his lead to two, but answered with two birdies. The sun came out just as Lee was finishing his 6-under 66.
“Long day for me, I think everybody,” said Lee, who was greeted just off the 18th green by countryman K.J. Choi ,an eight-time tour winner who lives in the Dallas area. “I mean, but I just try keep patient and positive thinking.”
Burns struggled to a 71 to finish at 22 under, a shot ahead of 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, Daniel Berger, Patton Kizzire and Scott Stallings. Troy Merritt and Joseph Bramlett finished two more back at 19 under.
When the delay hit, Jordan Spieth already knew he was going to fall short again in his hometown event, played on its third course in the past four Nelsons at the rainsoaked TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, about 30 miles north of Dallas.
Spieth, three back to start the day, shot 71 and tied for ninth at 18 under, giving him his first top 10 at the Nelson 11 years after he contended Sunday as a 16-year-old when the course was at its home of three decades, the TPC Four Seasons.
“Coming into the week if you told me top 10, I would probably take it,” said Spieth, playing for the first time since finishing third at the Masters and testing positive for COVID-19.
South Korea’s Sung Kang was the defending champion after winning in 2019, when the second of just two Nelsons was played at the treeless links course Trinity Forest in Dallas. The move was unpopular with fans and players, and Craig Ranch became the home following last year’s COVID-19 cancellation.
Lee overtook Burns, who shot 70, before it got really wet.
The 29-year-old from Seoul went ahead for good with a birdie on the par-4 third hole and stretched the lead to four at No. 8 by putting his second shot within 4 feet for birdie. Burns threw his ball in disgust after missing a 5-foot birdie try.
Lee is getting his third shot at a major after twice missing the cut at the U.S. Open. The first was in 2014, more than three years before his second PGA Tour appearance.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
Monday qualifier Dicky Pride won the Mitsubishi Electric Classic for his first PGA Tour Champions title, closing with a
5-under 67 for a threestroke victory at Duluth, Georgia.
Making his 11th senior start, the 51-year-old Pride had six birdies in an 11-hole stretch before dropping a stroke on the par-4 15th. He parred the final three.
Stephen Ames and
Kirk Triplett each shot 70 to tie for second with second-round leader Paul Goydos (72). Brett Quigley (68), Doug Barron (69) and Billy Andrade (72) were another stroke back.
KORN FERRY TOUR
Greyson Sigg made a 6-foot par putt on the 18th hole for a 4-under 66 and a one-stroke victory in the Visit Knoxville Open.
Sigg finished at 20-under 260 at Holston Hills for his first tour title.