Weekend Winners: Trick shot star Bryan’s breakthrough, Molinari back in the circle
PGA Tour: RBC Heritage – Wesley Bryan
Rookie Wesley Bryan held off the challenge of Luke Donald to win his first PGA Tour title at Harbour Town.
Bryan, best known for his trick shot YouTube videos with brother George, carded a final-round 67 to finish at 13 under par, one clear of his English challenger.
Donald, the former world No. 1 who is now ranked 96 after a five-year winless streak, followed up a double bogey at the second with five birdies – including holing out from the bunker at 11 to share the lead.
But Bryan holed a birdie putt at 15 to move ahead and Donald could not find another gain in the closing stretch to catch him.
“I’m going to remember this for a long time,” Bryan said. “I feel like I was missing greens and scrambling but still managed to make a good score of it.
“Looking at the leaderboard and knowing I just needed to make a two-putt on the last was pretty special.”
Donald, meanwhile, has now finished runner-up at the RBC Heritage five times without winning it – the third most of all time.
Ian Poulter carded a disappointing final-round 73 and will have to try again next week at the Valero Texas Open to keep his PGA Tour card.
European Tour: Trophee Hassan II – Edoardo Molinari
Two eagles in his last seven holes helped Edoardo Molinari claim his third European Tour title – his first since 2010 – at the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco.
Molinari holed his only eagles of the week at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam’s 12th and 18th on Sunday for a 68 and a clubhouse target of nine under – a number matched by 54-hole leader Paul Dunne, who birdied the last to force a play-off.
The players returned to the 18 th for sudden death, where par was enough to give Molinari victory after Dunne found trouble off the tee and failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker.
“To be able to win this week deletes a lot of bad memories and hopefully I can keep going down this road,” said Molinari, whose last victory came at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles seven years ago. “It’s fantastic.
“I’ve been through some very hard times with injuries and bad form.”
Molinari was in the world’s top 20 in 2010 and earned a captain’s pick from Colin Montgomerie for the victorious Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor the same year, but injury problems have seen the Italian fall as low as 1,164 in the rankings and a return to Qualifying School.
“It just shows that you should never give up, you should always keep trying, keep working hard,” added Molinari, who will move back into the world’s top 250 with this win.
“I’ve probably been the player who has spent the most time on the driving range over the last three years. This is a great reward for so much hard work.”
The Ladies European Tour was also at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Morocco this week, where Klara Spilkova earned her maiden victory.
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Alex Perry
Alex has been the editor of National Club Golfer since 2017. A Devonian who enjoys wittering on about his south west roots, Alex moved north to join NCG after more than a decade in London, the last five of which were with ESPN. Away from golf, Alex follows Torquay United and spends too much time playing his PlayStation or his guitar and not enough time practising his short game.
