On Sunday, Lucas Herbert won in Bermuda, edging out Patrick Reed and Danny Lee to claim his first PGA Tour title in his 20th start. The 25-year-old from Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, is a two-time winner on the European Tour, having won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in 2020 and the Dubai Duty-Free Irish Open in 2021.
Herbert has had an excellent start to his pro golfing career, and breaking the seal on his PGA trophy haul so early in his career is a promising sign of things to come for the young Ozzie.
Herbert ended the week 15 under after shooting a 2-under 69 on Sunday. That 2-under doesn’t sound fantastic, but it was three clear of the average field for Sunday’s play after some varying degrees of temperamental weather throughout the day.
“I felt like I grinded really well early, and I had the right attitude going into the day that it wasn’t going to be easy,” said Herbert following his victory. “I don’t think we even hit drivers on the range because (we) just couldn’t hit it, it was just pointless, so you just knew it was going to be one of those days where you had to battle really, really hard. Under par was going to be a great score. I couldn’t go and expect to finish at 20 under par or anything like that; you just had to grind through. Yeah, there was going to be some holes where it was going to die down a little bit and give you a chance, just had to kind of take your chances on those when you did get them.”
Rankings
Herbert has moved up to 43rd in the world rankings following the victory in Bermuda, a 15 place rise from 57th pre-tournament. The win guarantees the Australian entry into the Masters for the first time in his career. It also puts him in a great position already to make the Tour Championship in 2022, massive growth in the game already for a young man who only a year ago was playing his postseason golf in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.
“I’ve only had two minutes to think about it because I’ve been trying to push it so far out of my mind, but it just opens up so many doors for me,” Herbert said. “It’s just so exciting being able to play out here now; pick a schedule. It’s been tough for the guys out of the Korn Ferry Finals and regular season category earlier this year; we haven’t got a lot of starts. Yeah, to be sort of out of that battle and be able to get into some of these really big events, I’m looking forward to it so much.”
Lucas Herbert joins a small group of Australians to win a PGA Tour event at aged 25 or younger. Adam Scott, Jason Day, Cam Smith and Aaron Baddeley, those walking the path before him.
Patrick Reed fell slightly short of what he hoped to achieve in Bermuda despite shooting an incredible 65 on Sunday in the adverse weather to push Herbert. In the end, it was too little too late for the American after three good but not great rounds of 68, 69 and 68.
“I had eight penalty shots throughout the week, and the big goal coming in today was no penalty shots, no doubles, and to give yourself opportunities, look for birdie,” Reed said. “I felt like I did that really well today, and I managed the conditions. The putter got going for me.”
Confidence
Despite the Bermuda Championship being a weaker field, this was a tournament the world number 24 Reed will take confidence from after a poor summer. This is his first top ten finish since the Memorial in June.
“I think in this tournament in general, I’ve been having issues of … once I got back after being sick is … producing offense,” he said. “I was hitting the ball really well and making some putts, but just kind of burning edges on a 50/50 putt here that can get a round going, or get an up-and-down or don’t quite get an up-and-down when I should. It’s stuff like that that has been a little soft because I had so much time off on the actual playing side.
“So coming out and producing a lot of offense this week, it gives me the confidence that, hey, we’re back playing, and now we’re kind of in-play mode rather than so much technique and work mode.”
