Lee Kyoung-Hoon’s lowest round on the PGA Tour was enough to retain his AT&T Byron Nelson title ahead of home favourite Jordan Spieth in Texas on Sunday.
The South Korean carded a career-low 63 to finish on 26 under par to make it back-to-back wins at the tournament, becoming the first person to achieve that since Tom Watson 42 years ago.
Seamus Power’s closing effort of 68 left the Waterford golfer in a tie for 17th on 18 under. His final round featured five birdies and one dropped shot which came at the par three 17th.
Kyoung-Hoon’s efforts thwarted Spieth’s hopes of a maiden victory at his home course ahead of the American’s latest pursuit of a career grand slam at next week’s US PGA Championship.
Spieth, who was part of the final group, could only card 67 to finish on 25 under and failed to force a play-off despite a birdie on his last hole following a chip for eagle narrowly failing to land.
The Dallas-born three-time major winner had claimed a share of the lead at the halfway stage of his final round but a three-putt on the 10th from 6ft slowed his momentum.
“I hit just a shot that you don’t practice into the green and I actually thought I just stuck it and I don’t know if I could have a thousand balls and hit it where I hit it,” Spieth told reporters of his eagle attempt.
“When the day started I would have wanted to be at, I think I would have wanted to be at 25 under standing on (the) 18 tee. So I had a chance to do that with that putt on 17 and just kind of, it was just pumping into and it just dove across the hole.
“But it was a good week, good momentum into next week, last two starts being a win (at RBC Heritage) and a second, but this one will sting just a little bit just looking back on the day.”
Xander Schauffele had set the clubhouse target at 23 under earlier in the day thanks to a stunning 61. The American almost failed to make the cut on Friday after a poor start to his second round but secured a share of fifth in the end.
Justin Thomas and Ryan Palmer were the others to finish with an overall score of 265.
An eagle on Hideki Matsuyama’s 72nd hole had briefly put him out in front on 24 under and he would settle for joint-third with Sebastian Munoz, who held a share of the lead at the halfway mark.
Kyoung-Hoon once again came out on top though and he will now aim to build on this at Southern Hills.
The 30-year-old has never made the cut at a major in six previous attempts, with his most recent early exit being at last month’s Masters at Augusta.
An omen - of sorts - for Kyoung-Hoon is Watson winning his next tournament after claiming the 1980 Byron Nelson title: the Open Championship at Muirfield.
Collated final scores & totals in the USPGA Tour AT&T Byron Nelson, TPC Craig Ranch, McKinney, Texas, United States of America
(USA unless stated, Par 72):
262 Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 64 68 67 63
263 Jordan Spieth 67 65 64 67
264 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 67 66 69 62, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 60 69 66 69
265 Ryan Palmer 67 62 70 66, Xander Schauffele 72 67 65 61, Justin Thomas 68 66 64 67
266 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 66 65 68 67
267 James Hahn 69 68 61 69, Peter Malnati 64 70 67 66, Davis Riley 72 64 64 67
268 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 67 70 64 67, Matt Kuchar 67 68 69 64, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 63 71 64
269 Brice Garnett 68 68 69 64, Scottie Scheffler 67 68 65 69
270 Tom Hoge 68 68 67 67, Beau Hossler 69 64 67 70, Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor) 70 67 66 67, Jason Kokrak 68 65 68 69, Nate Lashley 72 67 67 64, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 70 67 64, Guillermo Mito Pereira (Chi) 64 69 70 67, Seamus Power (Irl) 66 67 69 68
271 David Lipsky 69 66 66 70, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 67 65 65 74, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 69 67 68 67, Austin Smotherman 68 69 66 68, Scott Stallings 67 67 70 67, Michael Thompson 70 67 67 67, Vincent Whaley 69 69 66 67
272 Mark Hubbard 70 65 69 68, Maverick McNealy 69 65 67 71, Taylor Moore 72 66 65 69, Trey Mullinax 68 69 66 69, Patrick Rodgers 69 67 68 68, Adam Scott (Aus) 67 69 71 65
273 Cameron Champ 70 68 70 65, Branden Grace (Rsa) 70 69 67 67, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 71 65 65 72, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 66 69 68 70, Pat Perez 73 65 67 68, David Skinns (Eng) 66 63 74 70, J. J. Spaun 66 68 68 71, Conrad Shindler 67 72 67 67
274 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 71 64 72 67, Justin Lower 64 66 74 70, Andrew Novak 69 69 72 64, Aaron Rai (Eng) 68 68 68 70, Callum Tarren (Eng) 71 68 68 67
275 Joseph Bramlett 69 70 66 70, Jason Day (Aus) 68 68 73 66, Lanto Griffin 71 64 72 68, Marc Leishman (Aus) 73 66 69 67, Matthew NeSmith 71 68 66 70, Aaron Wise 68 68 68 71, Jared Wolfe 68 71 71 65, Brandon Wu 73 66 66 70
276 Tyler Duncan 68 71 69 68, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 72 67 70 67, Dustin Johnson 67 70 66 73, Ian Poulter (Eng) 69 68 71 68, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 67 68 73 68, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 71 68 71 66,
277 Paul Barjon (Fra) 69 68 69 71, Bill Haas 71 67 69 70, Peter Uihlein 69 70 69 69, Wesley Bryan 70 68 73 66
278 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 69 68 70 71, Chesson Hadley 69 70 68 71, Seth Reeves 71 67 68 72, Adam Svensson (Can) 69 69 71 69
279 Michael Gligic (Can) 72 67 70 70, Sepp Straka (Aut) 70 69 70 70, Vaughn Taylor 70 68 70 71
280 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 70 74 67, Keith Mitchell 69 70 69 72, Martin Trainer 69 70 70 71
281 Adam Schenk 68 70 69 74, Sahith Theegala 72 67 70 72
282 Dawie van der Walt (Rsa) 67 71 73 71, Kyle Wilshire 65 73 71 73
284 Patton Kizzire 71 68 74 71, Max McGreevy 69 70 71 74
