Golf roundup: Former UGA star survives six-man playoff for fourth PGA tour win

AP photo by Chris Seward / Kevin Kisner, right, celebrates with caddie Duane Bock on Sunday after sinking a birdie putt on the second playoff hole at Sedgefield Country Club to win the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C.
AP photo by Chris Seward / Kevin Kisner, right, celebrates with caddie Duane Bock on Sunday after sinking a birdie putt on the second playoff hole at Sedgefield Country Club to win the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - When the Wyndham Championship completed 72 holes without a winner, Kevin Kisner found himself in a tournament playoff for the sixth time in his PGA Tour career.

Now he finally has a victory in golf's version of overtime, and Kisner hopes it will help him achieve another milestone: representing the United States in the Ryder Cup next month.

Kisner's approach shot on the second extra hole at Sedgefield Country Club put the ball three feet from the cup, and the former University of Georgia standout made the putt to win a record-tying six-man playoff Sunday and end his frustrating 0-for-5 skid.

The 37-year-old South Carolina native, an excellent putter who now has four PGA Tour wins, has never qualified or been selected to represent his country in the biennial matches against Europe. U.S. captain Steve Stricker will make six picks after the Tour Championship caps the 2020-21 season Sept. 2-5 at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club, and Kisner believes he at least has put himself in the mix.

"Who knows, man?" Kisner said. "I've never been picked before, so I'm not going to go out there and jump on a limb and say that I'm going to get picked this year.

"I love Stricker, he's a great friend and great guy. He'll do what's best for the team and the country."

And that could mean choosing Kisner, who's 23rd in the U.S. Ryder Cup points standings but has shaken off an uninspired year with improved play at the right time.

Kisner has shot in the 60s in 12 of his past 20 rounds. His closing 4-under-par 66 on Sunday included birdies on the 16th and 17th holes to reach 15-under 265 overall and the playoff.

He then beat Branden Grace, Si Woo Kim, Kevin Na, Adam Scott and Roger Sloan after all five made pars on the first additional hole.

"To be standing here is pretty sweet," said Kisner, who lost three playoffs in 2015 - including The Players Championship - was teamed with Scott Brown when they lost a playoff on the fourth extra hole at the 2017 Zurich Classic of New Orleans and came up short on the second extra hole of the RSM Classic last year.

Threatening weather in the forecast for later Sunday led tour officials to move up tee times. They didn't count on a mash-up at the top leading to the 12th playoff on the PGA Tour this season.

With Scott looking at a four-foot putt for birdie on the first extra hole, Kisner thought he would have to hole a pitch from short of the 18th green just to stay in the playoff, and he nearly did it. Kisner grimaced as his ball settled just right of the cup.

Scott's short putt missed badly, though, and all six players went back to the 18th tee. This time, only Kisner gave himself a close look at a birdie on the 505-yard closing hole.

Kim shot 64 in the final round, when Scott had a 65 and Grace, Na and Sloan each closed with 66 to help set up the third six-man playoff in PGA Tour history.

It didn't look like extra golf would be necessary after Russell Henley, who led after each of the first three rounds, recovered from a slow start to reach 17 under with a birdie on the 10th hole. The former Georgia standout bogeyed three of the next four, though, and came to the 72nd hole needing par to stay at 15 under.

He then missed a six-footer to go 0-for-3 this season with the 54-hole lead. He was in front after three rounds at Las Vegas last October and at the U.S. Open in June.

"I knew I had to shoot under par today, so just disappointed," Henley said after his closing 1-over 71. "It stings pretty bad."

There was drama through the final round of the tour's last regular-season event as players outside the top 125 of the FedEx Cup standings sought to get in the playoff field.

It looked like former FedEx Cup champion Justin Rose, who started the week 138th, had done enough to make the field for the Northern Trust, the PGA Tour playoffs opener that starts Thursday. However, he missed a five-footer for par on the final hole that dropped him to 126th.

"Obviously it was in my hands up 18," Rose said. "I didn't do a very good job of that."

His loss was Chesson Hadley's gain. The 34-year-old former Georgia Tech star with one PGA Tour win - he finished second at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree in June - made a hole-in one on the par-3 16th, complete with an awkward leg-kicking celebration, and shot a 62.

All three Baylor School graduates currently on the PGA Tour are in the playoff field. Harris English, who did not play at the Wyndham Championship, is No. 4 in the FedEx Cup standings after winning twice this year, while Keith Mitchell is 101st, one spot ahead of Luke List. Mitchell shot a 69 on Sunday to tie for 55th at 5 under, while List missed the cut on Friday.

The top 70 in the standings after next week advance to the BMW Championship, with only the top 30 qualifying for the Tour Championship.

Finishing touch

CALGARY, Alberta - Doug Barron birdied the final three holes for his third straight 6-under 64 and a two-stroke victory in the PGA Tour Champions' Shaw Charity Classic.

The 52-year-old American also eagled the par-5 11th in a back-nine 30 at Canyon Meadows. He won the 2019 Dick's Sporting Goods Open for his first victory on the senior circuit.

"Winning, losing - unfortunately, there's only one winner every week, and we don't get it very often," Barron said "So when you do it, you should enjoy it. I knew when I made that putt on 18 no one could beat me."

Steve Flesch was second at 16 under after a 65 in which he lost a late stroke with a bogey on No. 16. Billy Andrade (64) and Brandt Jobe (66) tied for third at 13 under, and first-round leader Billy Mayfair (69) was fifth at 12 under.

Ooltewah's Gibby Gilbert III closed with a 71 and finished at 6 under to share 22nd place, the 55-year-old's best finish in four starts on the 50-and-older tour this season.

Jaeger is fourth

OMAHA, Neb. - David Skinns won the Pinnacle Bank Championship, the final event of the Korn Ferry Tour's regular season, to earn a PGA Tour card as one of the top 25 finishers in the season points race.

The 39-year-old Englishman closed with a 4-under 67 to seal a 14-under 270 total at the Club at Indian Creek, and he jumped from 46th to 22nd in the season standings. He won the 2018 edition of the tournament for his only other title on the developmental tour.

Jared Wolfe (65) and China's Zecheng Dou (67) tied for second, with Patrick Fishburn (68), Chad Ramey (69) and Chattanooga's Stephan Jaeger (71) sharing fourth at 12 under.

A former Baylor School and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga standout, Jaeger had a one-stroke lead after 54 holes and was seeking his third win of the season. The 32-year-old Germany native had four bogeys and two birdies after 13 holes Sunday, then gave himself a late chance with an eagle on the par-5 15th before making pars the rest of the way.

Jaeger leads the Korn Ferry Tour standings and is set for his second stint on the PGA Tour when the new season tees off in September.

Dramatic conclusion

OAKMONT, Pa. - Facing his largest deficit of the tournament and running out of time, James Piot won four straight holes to start the back nine at Oakmont Country Club and went on to win the U.S. Amateur over Austin Greaser.

Piot closed out his 2-and-1 victory by going bunker to bunker on the reachable par-4 17th hole and saving par with a 20-foot putt. Greaser, who was 3 up at the turn, had an eight-foot birdie putt to extend the match, but the ball spun off the left lip.

The 22-year-old Piot, a senior at Michigan State, was mobbed by friends and teammates in their Spartans gear off the green, and before long he was holding the gold trophy.

The victory puts Piot, from Canton, Michigan, into three majors next year: the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open. Greaser - who's from Vandalia, Ohio, and is a junior at North Carolina - gets into the Masters and the U.S. Open as the runner-up.

Long wait over

FIFE, Scotland - Ryann O'Toole won her first LPGA Tour title in her 228th start, closing with a bogey-free 8-under 64 at Dumbarnie Links for a three-shot victory in the Trust Golf Women's Scottish Open.

After tapping in for a closing par, the 34-year-old American was showered with champagne and greeted with a kiss by her fiancée, Gina Marra.

O'Toole finished at 17-under 271. With the wind down and plentiful sunshine, Lydia Ko closed with a course-record 63 to tie for second with Atthaya Thitikul (66) in the tuneup for the Women's British Open.

Upcoming Events