Gay does it easily at Verizon
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2009 Verizon Heritage | Round Four | 20 Apr 2009
Brian Gay has won his second PGA Tour title by a massive ten shots at the Verizon Heritage Classic at Hilton Head and in doing so established the greatest winning margin since Phil Mickelson’s amazing 13 shot victory at the BellSouth Classic in 2006.
Taking a three shot lead over New Zealander Tim Wilkinson into the final round, Gay put the issue beyond doubt almost immediately when he birdied the first from ten feet and then holed a monster at the par five second for eagle. When he made the turn in 31 the rest were playing for second and the interest in the event really developed into just how much Gay would win by and who would grab the bulk of the remaining prizemoney.
Gay, a top class amateur, joined the PGA Tour in 1999 after several years of trying but it took him until the Mayakoba Classic in 2008 before he was able to secure his first PGA Tour victory. His form since however has been very good and this season his consistency improved to the point where something had to eventually give.
“Definitely winning last year propelled me to have my best year ever,” said Gay. “I got off to a great start this year although the last four to six weeks have been a little bit of a struggle but I played a lot better than my results, and I just came here and blew it out. So it was nice.”
“This course you have to do everything. You have to hit everything. You’ve got to be accurate. You have to hit unbelievable iron shots behind the trees and swirling winds and small targets. No matter how good you hit it, you’re not going to hit all the greens, so you have to have short shots around the green. You’ve pretty much got to do it all.”
Luke Donald and Briny Baird eventually tied for second place, Donald recording his best finish since his return from injury last year and Baird adding yet another runner up finish to a PGA Tour career in which he has yet to win.
Two blasts from the past in Todd Hamilton and Lee Janzen finished in a share of 4th position while another veteran Jose Maria Olazabal and Tim Wilkinson tied for 6th.
Hamilton is in his final year of exemption earned via his Open Championship victory in 2004 and is clearly starting to put it together after a long period in the golfing wilderness.
He finished 15th at last week’s Masters which had been his best result since a 10th at the 2006 John Deere Classic and this week confirms his return to the sort of form that saw him win the Open and the Honda Classic earlier in his career along with numerous events internationally.
After such a good rookie season last year, Wilkinson has struggled to date on the PGA Tour in 2009 but on a golf course where he played reasonably well last year he has found some form again. With New Orleans on this week he will be better prepared to perhaps even beat his third place finish last year.
“I hit a lot of good shots today,” said Wilkinson. “I wasn’t on the top of my game, but I played pretty well, I think, not great but I got it around. I made a nice putt on the last one, a nice one from about six feet. I could have missed that and finished tied for 8th. This week is the best I have played all year so I am pretty happy.”
The best of the Australians was Aaron Baddeley, a previous winner here, who finished 21st on what must be one of his favourite golf courses, Mathew Goggin and Nick O’Hern were 30th, Nathan Green and Peter Lonard 48th, Rod Pampling 65th and Aron Price 72nd.
The PGA Tour now moves to New Orleans for this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
