Kyoung-Hoon Lee grabs first PGA Tour title, PGA berth by winning Byron Nelson
It was an early start and rainy finish Sunday at the AT&T Byron Nelson, where Kyoung-Hoon Lee captured his first PGA Tour victory and earned a major invite in the process. Here’s everything you need to know from the final round at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas:
Leaderboard: Kyoung-Hoon Lee (-25), Sam Burns (-22), Patton Kizzire (-21), Daniel Berger (-21), Scott Stallings (-21)
How it happened: With the 54-hole leader Burns in the final group and Jordan Spieth in the penultimate threesome, Lee entered Sunday a tad under the radar. But the 29-year-old Korean quickly took control with five birdies in his first eight holes, and from there he coasted – and later sailed (literally) – to a three-shot victory while Burns and Spieth offered little in terms of birdies on the final day. With Kizzire and Berger in the house early at 21 under, Lee fought through heavy rain and a soaked golf course down the stretch, as grounds crew members had to squeegee the greens for players for a couple of holes before play was halted because of inclement weather with the last group on 16 green. The suspension lasted 2 hours, 23 minutes, and Lee returned to go bogey-birdie-birdie to get the job done with a final-round, 6-under 66.
What it means: Lee entered this week as third alternate for next week’s PGA Championship at Kiawah. His victory Sunday, though, earns him the final spot in the PGA field. It will be Lee’s first PGA start and third major start ever. He missed cuts at the U.S. Open in 2014 and 2019. Lee also projects to crack the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time – and, according to world-ranking expert Nosferatu, move inside the top 60, too. Until now, Lee has mostly been known for his wins in Asia (two apiece on the Japan, Korean and OneAsia tours), as well as his origin story of first picking up golf as a kid in order to lose weight. Now, he’s a top-100 player in the world and enters a major championship with winning momentum.
Round of the day: Kizzire birdied eight of his first 12 holes and then added two more birdies on the way in to shoot 9-under 63 and notch his first post-January top-5 of his Tour career. Kizzire’s previous wins and other top-5s have either come in the fall or during January’s Sony Open.
Shot of the day: Instead of a golf shot, how about this camera shot? Hats off to the grounds crew for helping move players along before the delay.
Biggest disappointments: Spieth and Burns. Spieth figured he’d need a low one and then mostly have to worry about Burns on Sunday. However, after just three birdies and a closing 71, Spieth was passed by a few guys and ended up T-9. Burns, trying for his second win in three weeks, also shot 71 and wasn’t really a factor on the back nine.