Jhonattan Vegas earned his first title on the PGA TOUR for seven years thanks to a narrow one-shot victory at the 3M Open.
The Venezuela birdied the final hole to complete the event with a 17-under 267 at TPC Twin Cities to finish a shot clear of American Max Greyserman.
This is Vegas’ fourth career PGA TOUR title but his first since the 2017 Canadian Open.
“We’re just trying to have a great week and obviously a great week turned into a win. I’m out of my head right now, so it’s incredible,” Vegas said.
It was a far from ideal situation for Vegas on the par-five 18th as he had to wait on the tee box for 11 minutes and the slow going continued from there but the 39-year-old held his nerve to sink his second birdie in four holes.
“I didn’t really think much about the length of it. It was just another putt, right? At the end of the day you have to try to figure it out. I know we putted really well, those long putts I’ve been hitting them pretty solid,” he said.
Vegas competed the event on a medical exemption after being limited to seven starts the previous season due to injuries to his elbow and shoulder, but admitted he still experienced issues on the course.
“I felt [the shoulder] right away on the first hole,” he said. “It was a nightmare, but luckily stayed calm and I was able to play pretty solid and not make huge mistakes.”
But stated how victory helped lessen the pain. “Nothing feels better than this,” he said.
29-year-old PGA TOUR rookie Greyserman hit an impressive eight-under 63 in the final round featuring a sublime birdie on the last, his eight of the day, meant he solidifed a second-place finish.
“We’re all out here to win golf tournaments and get trophies,” the 29-year-old American said.
“I felt it was worth the risk and honestly to other people it seemed liked a hard shot, but in the moment it wasn’t that hard of a shot. You hit a lot of shots in the trees in the course of your life, it was just another one.”
While American pair Matt Kuchar and Maverick McNealy shared third place on 15 under.
Vegas and Greyserman have climbed into the top 70 in the FedExCup standings, putting them in position for the Playoffs, which commence in three weeks.
What is the next event?
The next event on the PGA TOUR is the Wyndham Championship taking place between 8-11 August at Sedgefield Country Club in North Carolina.