Austin Eckroat received a weather-delayed Cognizant Classic on Monday at PGA National Resort to select up his first profession PGA Tour title.
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Austin Eckroat had slept on a 54-hole lead earlier than. But how would he sleep on a 61-hole lead? That was the query as Eckroat left the course on Sunday night time clinging to a one-stroke lead with 11 holes to play as he readied for a weather-delayed Monday end.
The reply? Pretty effectively, apparently.
Eckroat received the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches on Monday at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., main the sector in birdies and claiming his first PGA Tour victory in his fiftieth profession Tour begin.
The 25-year-old professional closed with a four-under 67, ending 17 below total, three away from Erik van Rooyen and Min Woo Lee.
Eckroat, who’s ranked a hundred and first on the earth, had a strong however unspectacular begin to his season earlier than this week. He’d made 4 of 5 cuts with no end higher than twenty fifth and nothing worse than forty second. His earlier finest end on Tour was a T2 finally 12 months’s AT&T Byron Nelson, which can also be the one different time he’s held a share of the 54-hole lead. But it’s not like he imploded that Sunday — he shot a bogey-free six-under 65, which was solely topped by Jason Day’s Sunday 62, good for a one-shot win.
“You can’t really visualize what it will be messing around when you’re a kid on the putting green having putts to win PGA Tour events and win the Masters and stuff like that,” Eckroat mentioned. “But coming into today, I’ve been in this situation before at the Byron Nelson where I had a lead. I didn’t really know what to expect what the feeling would be. I knew finishing second was heartbreaking. I’m not real sure. I still don’t think I’m sure how I feel yet. I know I’m excited.”
But this time, Eckroat’s final-round lead, at the least on Monday, was by no means doubtful.
Eckroat, Shane Lowry and David Skinns shared the 54-hole lead, however a 3 1/2-hour climate delay hit the property earlier than 26 gamers even had an opportunity to tee off on Sunday afternoon. When play resumed, the ultimate pairings solely had time to slot in a handful of holes.
Eckroat, within the penultimate pairing, completed seven holes and led at 15 below. Behind him, Lowry (12 below) and Skinns (11 below) marked their balls on the sixth gap fairway to renew from there Monday.
Van Rooyen shot 63 on Sunday and had the clubhouse lead at 14 below, however studies on Monday mentioned he was seven miles down the street on the Seminole Pro-Member. He will need to have recognized a playoff was unlikely. He was proper.
Returning to PGA National Resort’s Champion course for an 8 a.m. ET restart on Monday, Eckroat made 4 straight pars earlier than he birdied the twelfth and thirteenth. He did not stand up and down from a bunker on 14 and made bogey, however he didn’t make a mistake once more.
Eckroat entered the Bear Trap — the diabolical three-hole stretch of Nos. 15-17 — with a two-shot lead. He two-putted for par on 15 and rolled in a 12-footer for birdie on 16 to stretch his result in three. Stress-free pars on 17 and 18 secured the win — and unlocked a handful of latest tournaments he’s now exempt into, together with the Masters.
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