Sung Kang made up almost 11 strokes on the field on the greens over the 72 holes of the AT&T Byron Nelson, but it was the two-stroke differential on the 15th green that resulted in his first US PGA Tour victory, a two-shot win over Matt Every and Scott Piercy, who played 72 holes without a bogey but still didn’t win.
Kang and Every were tied playing the par-4 15th, but then Kang rolled in a 23-footer for a crucial birdie, to take a one-shot advantage. Then Every, faced with a nine-footer for par that probably looked longer than that after Kang’s make, missed the par-save putt and suddenly Kang had a solid two-shot cushion that grew to three when he followed that with another birdie putt (a seven-footer) at the short par-4 16th – his third birdie in a row.
For the week Kang ranked second in strokes gained/putting, using his Scotty Cameron by Titleist TFB putter. The TFB stands for Tour Fastback – a mid-mallet head style with a single sightline on the topline. Kang’s putter has a pair of 15-gram weights in the sole and a single-bend shaft.
The 31-year-old South Korean had four wins on the Korean Tour but none in America, his previous best chance coming at the 2017 Shell Houston Open where he took a three-shot lead into the final round but finished second to Russell Henley. This time, in a different part of Texas at Trinity Forest Golf Club outside Dallas, Kang also had a three-shot lead at the start of the round and this time finished off the task for the win.
What Sung Kang had in the bag at the AT&T Byron Nelson:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: Titleist TS3 (Fujikura Ventus 6X), 8.5 degrees
3-wood: Titleist TS2, 13.5 degrees
5-wood: Titleist TS3, 18 degrees
Irons (4): Mizuno JPX 919 Pro; (5-PW): Mizuno JPX 919 Tour
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 (52, 56, 60 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist TFB
