Brian Gay putts for eagle on the second hole during the final round of the Verizon Heritage golf tournament on Sunday at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, S.C. Gay went on to win the tournament by a record 10 strokes to earn his second PGA Tour title. Gay finished at 20-under-par 264.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Brian Gay put on a record-setting show at the Verizon Heritage. And this time, he didn’t have to share the spotlight with anyone.
Gay shot a 7-under-par 64 Sunday to win at Harbour Town Golf Links by 10 shots. He broke the 13-year-old scoring record, finishing at 20-under 264 on the way to his second PGA Tour victory.
“Just another unbelievable day,” Gay said.
There have been many more of them the last two years for the former Florida Gator, who remains the only player to win two Southeastern Conference championships.
But finding golf success has been a struggle for the 37-year-old, who did not break through for his first win until his 293rd start in February 2008 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico.
Bad luck for Gay, that triumph came the same weekend Tiger Woods’ finished off the field at the World Golf Championships’ Match Play event.
“Yeah, it’s a bit of validation,” Gay said.
And perhaps one of the PGA Tour’s more dominating performances.
He had the tour’s largest margin of victory since Phil Mickelson won the 2006 BellSouth Classic by 13 strokes.
Gay bested Loren Roberts’ mark of 19 under in winning the 1996 Verizon Heritage. Gay’s 10-shot edge over Luke Donald (66) and Briny Baird (68) shattered the seven strokes five-time champ Davis Love won by in 1998.
Besides a $1.026 million first prize, Gay earned a spot in next year’s Masters, something he also didn’t get with the Mayakoba victory. It will be his first time at Augusta National.
“I’ve had a lot of heartache not getting in that tournament, winning (and) not getting in, and missing by one spot on the money list two times,” he said. “I just figured, who cares? What’s going to happen is going to happen. Just go play golf.”
Gay moved into the lead Friday and carried a three-stroke margin over Tim Wilkinson into the final round. Gay’s game plan? Don’t do what he did at Mayakoba, holding on despite some passive, wait-for-pars play.
“I told myself to keep my head down and keep plugging along,” Gay said. “I didn’t watch any (leader) boards. I didn’t watch anything.”
Soon enough, Gay was out of sight of the field.
He essentially wrapped things up two holes into the round – and never gave the chasers a chance to climb back in.
Gay struck his approach to 10 feet on No. 1 for a birdie to increase the lead to four. A hole later, he rolled in a curling, uphill 57-footer for an eagle-3, raising his putter as the ball disappeared into the cup.
Playing partner Wilkinson, facing a 10-footer for birdie, never had a chance with the cheers for Gay still in his ears and the margin increased to six shots.
A birdie on the par-5 fifth gave Gay a seven-shot edge that no one could dent.
Champions Tour
LUTZ, Fla. – Nick Price won the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am for his first Champions Tour victory, overcoming three double bogeys in a final-round 71.
After a par putt on the 18th hole, Price finished with a two-shot victory over Larry Nelson to end an 0-for-38 streak on the Champions Tour and win his first title since the 2002 MasterCard Colonial, a span of 111 tour events.
Nationwide Tour
ATHENS, Ga. – PGA Tour player Patrick Sheehan holed a 22-foot birdie putt from the fringe to beat Australia’s Michael Sim on the first hole of a playoff in the Nationwide Tour’s Athens Regional Foundation Classic.
The 39-year-old Sheehan, a former University of Hartford player from Rhode Island, closed with a 4-under 68 to match Sim (63) at 14-under 274 on the Jennings Mill Country Club course. Sheehan earned $99,000 for his second career Nationwide Tour win.
Volvo China Open
BEIJING – Australia’s Scott Strange won the Volvo China Open, closing with a 4-under 68 for a one-stroke victory over Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.