Korea’s Si Woo Kim came up one short shy as he settled for tied second place in the AT&T Byron Nelson on Sunday behind winner Jason Day of Australia, who completed an emotional victory for his 13th PGA Tour victory following a five-year title drought.
Kim fought courageously at TPC Craig Ranch inn Dallas, Texas with a final round of 8-under 63 for a 22-under 262 total as his bid for a fifth PGA Tour victory and a second of the season was thwarted by playing partner Day, who closed with a brilliant 62 for a one-stroke victory.
It was also a memorable day for Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan, who signed for a career low 62 to finish solo fourth on 263 having recently come back from an injury layoff due to a wrist problem. Co-overnight leader Marty Zecheng Dou of China settled for tied fifth place for his career first top-10 on the PGA TOUR following a 67 which included a double bogey on the eighth hole while holding a two-shot lead.
Day, whose first PGA Tour came at the 2010 AT&T Byron Nelson, was in tears after prevailing once more following a difficult past few years which included a debilitating back injury and also the loss of his mother, Dening who passed away last year due to cancer.
“To go through what I went through and then to be able to be a winner again and be in the winner’s circle is very pleasing, and I know there’s been a lot of very hard work behind the scenes that a lot of people haven’t seen. But that’s just the competition part of the journey and trying to strive to get better. It’s nice to be able to get my 13th win,” said the 35-year-old Day, whose wife Ellie and four children were waiting by the 18th greenside.
“I was really calm. I woke up, had a great sleep, and just things felt calm. For some reason, I just thought that I was going to win the tournament. It’s easy to say that now because I won it, but for some reason I just had this sort of calmness about it.”
Kim made eight birdies on the card as he enjoyed a bogey-free weekend, and rue a missed 14-foot opportunity on the 17th hole to put the pressure on his playing partner. “I think I had a chance on 17 if I would have made it. It was a good putt. Not go in. But Jason was playing great, as well,” said Kim, who moved to eighth position on the FedExCup standings with his second top-10 in his last three starts.
“I think it was a great week, especially this is my kind of second hometown. It feels great to play great at home week. I try my best, and I like the result. It was a good round,” added the Korean star, who will now head for the PGA Championship, the year’s second major.
Pan, a one-time PGA Tour winner, was delighted to secure his best result of the season after nailing two eagles in his round, the first time he has done so on Tour. “You know, just before the round, I was trying to give myself a lot of birdies putts out there,” he said.
“I know the greens are soft because we had quite a bit of rain overnight, and we played the ball up, as well. Just trying to give myself a lot of birdie looks, and on the back nine, pretty crazy. I had two eagles. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before, and shot 62 today, my lowest round on the PGA Tour. Just really cool to do it on Sunday and on the PGA Tour.”
Dou, a three-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour, held his head up after notching his career best finish on Tour, although he felt he got unlucky by catching a flyer on the eighth hole with his approach shot which landed out of bounds for an eventual six.
“Today I have a solid start, not too much thoughts but I could feel I am at a good form. Big mistake on 8, the ball to the edge of rough. The lie looked OK but I hit a flyer, OB. It was a pity. This is a course which everyone may hit a low score, like Jason did today. That hole cost me a lot of opportunities … two strokes really. But I was generally good after that, and just did not have enough birdies compared with those in the front nine,” said Dou, who shared fifth place with Scottie Scheffler (65) and Tyrell Hatton (64).
