Washington (AFP) – Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas birdied the final hole to hold off US rookie Max Greyserman and win the 3M Open on Sunday, snapping a seven-year PGA Tour victory drought. The 39-year-old South American fired a one-under par 70 to capture his fourth career PGA title, finishing 72 holes on 17-under 267 at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota.
“You’ve got to get your body ready to play 72 holes. I haven’t been there. It has been a lot of good stuff but I haven’t been there,” Vegas said. “Today it was in there and I knew it from the first hole. Stay calm and I knew I was playing good golf. I had to dig deep and luckily I came out with a win.”
Vegas, whose first title came at the 2011 Bob Hope Classic, had not won a PGA event since taking back-to-back Canadian Open crowns in 2016 and 2017. Right shoulder surgeries caused him to miss the 2023 campaign, and he has been rebuilding his game.
“It’s always a great feeling,” Vegas said. “Winning out here, we all know how hard it is, so every win is special. Coming back from two surgeries, it was a very hard day for me today. Didn’t feel 100 percent. It took a lot. It really makes the win super special.”
World number 321 Vegas, who had been playing on a medical exemption, won himself a place on the PGA Tour through the 2026 campaign. Greyserman was second on 268 after closing with a season-low 63 while compatriots Matt Kuchar and Maverick McNealy shared third on 269 and Canada’s Taylor Pendrith was fifth on 270.
“I played well. Unfortunately I was a little too far behind,” Greyserman said. “Hopefully I’ll have more chances in the future.” Missing a chance to snap his win drought was Kuchar, 46, who is ranked 125th and hadn’t had a top-10 finish this year. He has not won a PGA event since the January 2019 Sony Open in Hawaii. Greyserman, in only his 21st PGA start, managed his best tour finish, birdied six of the last nine holes and even briefly grabbed the lead.
– **Vegas delivers at 18** –
Greyserman blasted onto the par-5 18th green in two from beyond a left-side cart path and tapped in for birdie to shoot 63 and grab a one-stroke lead at 16-under. Vegas responded with a birdie from just inside 10 feet at the par-4 15th to share the lead, with Kuchar one adrift, and that’s how they reached the 18th tee.
Vegas landed in the fairway and then reached the green in two, 96 feet from the hole. He rolled his first putt three feet past the hole. Then, after Kuchar missed an 18-foot birdie putt to end his hopes, Vegas sank his own short putt for birdie and a long-sought triumph.
Starting the day ahead by one stroke, the Venezuelan opened with a bogey, needing four strokes to reach the green and sinking an 11-foot putt to avoid double bogey. He then responded with a six-foot birdie putt at the par-3 fourth and a four-foot birdie putt at the par-5 sixth but stumbled again with a bogey at the ninth when his approach found water. Vegas found a bunker at the par-3 13th and made bogey, falling into a share of the lead at 15-under with Kuchar, McNealy, and Greyserman.
© 2024 AFP
