GREENSBORO, N.C. - In the span of a couple of strokes, Patrick Reed went from almost certain disaster to his first PGA Tour victory.
Reed won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first title, beating Jordan Spieth with a most improbable birdie on the second hole of a playoff.
Reed recovered from a drive on the par-4 10th that came a few feet from going out of bounds and stopped in some pine needles in the woods near a television cable.
Reed, who started the week 78th in points, pulled out his 7-iron, uncorked a baseball swing from an uphill lie and sent the ball under a tree branch - yet away from the tree trunk - to land his second shot 7 feet from the pin.
“It was the best shot of my life, that’s for sure,” Reed said.
Spieth, who called it “one of the best shots I’ve ever witnessed,” had reached the green in two strokes, but his 10-foot birdie putt trickled wide of the cup.
Reed then sank his short birdie putt that “felt like it was 40” feet to end it.
“Just to get my first win means everything to me,” Reed said.
Reed, who had his third consecutive top-10 finish, earned $954,000 in prize money and 500 FedEx Cup points for winning the final tournament before the playoffs.
Reed and Spieth finished regulation at 14-under 266. Reed closed with a 4-under66, and Spieth had a 65.
Spieth, 20, the John Deere winner in a playoff last month, nearly became the youngest two-time champion in the modern era of the PGA Tour.
John Huh and Brian Harman were two strokes behind. Harman had a 66, and Huh shot 68. Matt Jones matched the tournament record for a final round with a 62 and finished at 11 under along with Matt Every (67) and Zach Johnson (68).
Reed - who let a three stroke lead on the back nine slip away - missed a chance to win it on the first playoff hole, the par-4 18th.
Spieth recovered from a terrible drive and saved par with a snaking 25-foot putt.
Reed pushed his 7-foot birdie putt wide of the hole, sending it to a second extra hole.
“I don’t even know how I was still playing (the second playoff hole) after what happened on 18,” Spieth said.
Spieth and Huh both caught Reed at 14 under down the stretch in regulation.
At roughly the same time Reed bogeyed the par-3 16th, Spieth birdied the par-4 17th and closed with a par. Huh slipped off the pace after finishing with two bogeys.
Reed, who led or shared the lead after the second and third rounds, also could have won it in regulation after landing his approach shot on the 18th in the center of the green.
But he left his approximately 20-foot birdie putt short and tapped in to force the playoff.
At the end of the day, the leaderboard looked much like it did at the start - tightly bunched. Eight players began the round within two strokes of the lead.
Bryce Molder (Conway) shot a 3-under 67 on Sunday and finished the tournament at 7 under, which was good enough to earn $82,150 for his tie for 16th place.
Scott Gardiner ( Farmington) finished in a tie for 52nd place after a 3-over 73. He earned $12,177 for the tournament.
Molder is one of three golfers with Arkansas ties who advance into the FedEx Cup playoffs, which begin this week at the Barclay’s Championship in Jersey City. N.J.
Molder (98th), David Lingmerth (45th) and Ken Duke (32nd) are among the top 125 in points. The field is cut to the top 100 after one week, top 70 after the second week, and finally, the top 30, after three weeks of playoffs, culminating in the Tour Championship at East Lake Country Club in Atlanta.
Gardiner (177th), Tag Ridings (142nd) and Glen Day (191) will have to requalify for the PGA Tour by joining players who finished the Web.com season ranked between 26th and 75th in a four-week Web.com finals. The top 25 money-earners in the Web.com regular-season standings will have already earned their cards, and the top 25 earners in the finals standings will join them.
CHAMPIONS
Bryant wins by stroke
ENDICOTT, N.Y. - Bart Bryant won the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open on Sunday, becoming the 1,000th tournament champion on the Champions Tour.
Bryant, who shot a tournament record-tying 10-under 62 in the second round, completed his first victory on the senior tour with a closing 72 and finished at 16-under 200 to beat Russ Cochran and Corey Pavin by one shot.
Cochran closed with a 67, and Pavin shot 69.
Duffy Waldorf shot 69, and Gene Sauers had a 67 to finish in a tie for fourth, another shot back.
First-round leader Kenny Perry shot a 68 to tie for seventh at 12 under. He was one shot better than Bernhard Langer and extended his lead over Langer in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.
Bryant’s four-stroke lead over Pavin after two rounds was the largest 36-hole margin in the tournament’s brief history.
WEB.COM
Malnati makes surge
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Peter Malnati won the News Sentinel Open on Sunday for his first Web.com Tour title, birdieing five of the last seven holes for a one-stroke victory.
Malnati, a former University of Missouri player from Dandridge, Tenn., closed with a 5-under 65 for a 16-under 268 total at Fox Den Country Club. He earned $99,000.
James White, Miguel Angel Carballo, Matt Bettencourt and Blayne Barber tied for second.
White had a 66, Carballo and Bettencourt shot 67, and Barber finished with a 68.
Sports, Pages 13 on 08/19/2013