GREENSBORO, N.C. — Aaron Rai just kept believing and kept making pars, so by the time a grueling day of golf at the Wyndham Championship was coming to a close Sunday, the Englishman was right where he needed to be.
In the PGA Tour’s regular-season finale, Rai produced a steady finish for a final-round 64 to win on tour for the first time.
“Truly a dream come true,” he said.
Rai’s two-stroke victory, which came by playing 36 holes on the final day at Sedgefield Country Club, will be largely associated with Max Greyserman’s misfortune as a four-shot lead evaporated on the back nine with dusk fast approaching.
Rai’s first title on the PGA Tour came in his 89th appearance. He finished at 18-under-par 262 after earlier posting a third-round 68. He was bogey-free for the last round, sinking a 6 1/2-foot birdie putt on the last hole.
“I felt pretty calm,” he said. “I knew the situation.”
Rai, who moved to 25th in the FedEx Cup standings, had only two birdies across the last 12 holes.
“I did just a good job sticking to what we do well,” Rai said.
Greyserman (66, 69), bidding for his first tour victory, was second at 16 under. J.J. Spaun (66, 64) and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune (64, 67) tied for third at 15 under.
“I knew there was a lot of pressure all day,” Greyserman said. “I think I just need to take that away that I know how to play in those situations.”
Greyserman had two eagles in the final round, including one from 91 yards out on the fairway on the 13th hole. But his quadruple-bogey 8 on No. 14 resulted in a four-shot lead vanishing. His tee shot bounced off a cart path and went out of bounds, and things deteriorated from there.
“Played really, really well this week. … Obviously, stuff happens sometimes in golf that it’s not meant to be,” said Greyserman, who vowed to get right back to work.
In a self-assessment, he said he made mental miscalculations after the wayward tee shot that cost him extra strokes on that hole.
But he recovered to regain the lead on the next hole with a birdie. Then came a four-putt double-bogey on the par-3 16th to give the lead back to Rai, who was playing in the group in front of him.
Greyserman, 29, was runner-up two weeks earlier in the 3M Open. He notched his fourth top-10 result of the year.
“Hopefully, it will be my time next time,” he said.
Greyserman’s third-round 66 put him three strokes in front of amateur Luke Clanton, who rallied with a career-low 62, entering the fourth round.
Greyserman, who played collegiately about an hour away at Duke, had gone 56 consecutive holes without a bogey until the fourth hole of the final round. He responded moments later with an eagle on the next hole. That was his second eagle in a nine-hole stretch, posting one on No. 15 of the third round.
Second-round leader Matt Kuchar (70 third round) was at 11 under for the tournament when he chose not to finish the final hole because of darkness. Apparently, he’ll complete the hole Monday morning.
Since the dawn of the FedEx Cup playoffs in 2007, Kuchar had qualified for every edition of the postseason, but he needed to win the tournament in order to play in the coming week’s FedEx St. Jude Classic.
For some golfers, Sunday’s endurance test began prior to the third round as they completed remaining holes from the second round. The postponement of Thursday’s first round and another weather delay Friday created havoc for the tournament’s schedule.
Clanton, who played 39 holes Sunday, finished in fifth place at 14 under after recording 62 and 69 for the last two rounds. He received plenty of attention throughout the day, pulling within a shot of the lead in the third round, when he had eagles on Nos. 13 and 15.
“Again, just being out here in contention and being able to say that I was kind of close to the lead coming down the stretch is awesome,” Clanton said. “It’s a lot of learning for me and again, as a 20-year-old, it’s pretty sweet.”
The Florida State star, who was the only amateur in the field and will begin play Monday in the U.S. Amateur in Minnesota, contended before bogeying his last two holes of the fourth round (Nos. 8 and 9).
–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
