[PHOTO: Thien-An Truong/ISI Photos]
There have been countless exciting final-hole finishes in golf history, but Ryan Gerard nearly gave PGA Tour fans a first last weekend: a literal walk-off win.
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OK, let’s explain. Gerard was playing in the Barracuda Championship, which uses a modified Stableford scoring system. And it looked like he’d have a big enough lead to cruise to the finish, but a late rally by Erik van Rooyen left the 25-year-old just having to dodge disaster on the 72nd hole, which he did with a par to secure his first PGA Tour title.
But as he told SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio overnight (Australian time), he had planned to not even post a score on the 18th hole and take the minus-3 points for a double-bogey or worse if he had a big enough cushion.
“I was a little bit disappointed that I didn’t have a big enough lead going into 18 because I would have just scooped it and walked off, and taken the minus-3,” Gerard said. “It would have been a good way to cap it… so I was trying to go out in style, but Erik made birdie on the last so I actually had to get it in the hole.”
And now we’re disappointed too. Because that would have been an all-time boss move by Gerard. Here’s the clip from SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio:
https://twitter.com/SiriusXMPGATOUR/status/1948091262457860229
Oh well. But instead of walking off in style, Gerard got to drive off with a new electric bike and the biggest cheque of his career (so far) for $US720,000. And that’s still pretty boss in our book.
