Lucas Glover captures Wyndham Championship, makes playoffs

 

[August 07, 2023]  Lucas Glover waited out a weather delay, received a lucky bounce on the last hole and claimed his fifth career PGA Tour title by winning the Wyndham Championship on Sunday at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.

Glover followed a third-round 62 with a 2-under-par 68 on Sunday to finish at 20-under 260, two strokes better than Russell Henley (69 on Sunday) and South Korean Byeong Hun An (67). Billy Horschel (72), who shared the lead with Glover after three rounds, faded to fourth place at 16 under.

Winning the PGA Tour's regular-season finale launched Glover from 112th place in the FedEx Cup points standings to No. 49, qualifying him for the playoffs that begin next week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tenn.

"Last time I played Memphis, I played very well, so excited to get back there," Glover said. "... Just let this soak in and get my body and my mind right and get back to work Tuesday or Wednesday."

Inclement weather forced a delay that lasted two hours and three minutes when the top four players had just four holes to play. At that time, Glover and Henley were tied for the lead at 20 under, two strokes ahead of An.

Henley came out of the delay with a shot of momentum, making a two-putt birdie at the par-5 15th hole for the outright lead. He then missed the green at the par-3 16th and wound up finishing his round with three successive bogeys.

"Just never got comfortable (after the restart)," Henley said. "Felt a little jittery out there, just never got into a good sync with my swing, felt kind of rushed from the top of my swing. Just didn't do a good job of handling the restart."

Glover's drive at the par-4 18th missed left but bounced off the side of a volunteer's cart, preventing his ball from ending up with an even worse lie. Knowing he had a two-shot lead, Glover laid up, reached the green in three strokes and rolled in an 8-foot par putt.

"To be honest I'd have probably laid it up anyway," Glover said with a laugh. "Just might have been a harder lay-up. But I didn't know (about the cart bounce) officially -- I thought somebody was joking when they said it."

Glover, 43, recovered from a bogey on the opening hole and birdied the par-4 fourth, eighth and 11th holes before making pars the rest of the way. The 2009 U.S. Open champion last won on tour at the 2021 John Deere Classic.

He said Sunday would have been his late grandfather's 97th birthday and credited him for starting him playing golf.

"He was my mentor and my hero and all that stuff," Glover said. "Tried not to think about it too much until the end there. I like to think I had a leg up on everybody today because of that."

An, who had five birdies and two bogeys Sunday, earned his best finish of the season and his second top-three finish in three starts. He tied for third at the Scottish Open.

"I played just really steady golf all year, I think," An said. "Didn't really have a really good finish until the Scottish and (Sunday), I guess. But, you know, it's trending. That's what me and my coach say, it's trending. It's not just about this year, but you're looking ahead to five years and I'm trying to be the best golfer in the world out there."

Horschel needed to finish no worse than a two-way tie for second to make the FedEx Cup playoffs; instead, he will miss out after only moving to 90th in the standings. The top 70 in points will play next week in the first leg of the playoffs.

Former World No. 1 and two-time major winner Justin Thomas was the first man below the top-70 cut line. His T12 finish (11 under par) only moved him up from No. 79 to No. 71 in the standings.

Thomas shot a final-round 68 that included a dramatic moment at the 18th hole. From in front of the green, Thomas had a long way to the hole for his third shot and pitched his ball toward the pin.

After three hops, the ball bumped off the bottom of the pin and stayed out -- inches away from a hole-out birdie that could have changed Thomas' fortunes. Thomas collapsed to the ground and covered his eyes in disbelief.

"I did my part," Thomas said. "I played the best I could and I fought as hard as I could and shot the lowest I possibly could."

Adam Scott of Australia shot a final-round 63 to tie for seventh at 12 under, but his standing only improved to No. 72. Others missing the playoffs include Ireland's Shane Lowry (No. 78), Joel Dahmen (No. 84) and Gary Woodland (No. 94).

--Field Level Media

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