Kyoung-Hoon Lee’s first career win on the PGA Tour couldn’t have come at a better time.
After enduring a wet and delayed final round to win the AT&T Byron Nelson on Sunday, Lee earned the final spot in next weeks’ PGA Championship.
“[It was a] long day for me, I think [for] everybody,” Lee said, via The Associated Press. “I mean, but I just try [to] keep patient and positive thinking.”
Lee finished the day with a 6-under 66, thanks to a pair of birdies on his final two holes to close out his final round. He flew three shots ahead of Sam Burns, too, who posted a 2-over 70 after leading for much of the week.
He and others had to wait nearly 2 and a half hours for a rain delay with just three holes left on the day, too, as heavy rain hit the Dallas-area course for much of the round.
Lee solidified his win with a tight shot on the par-3 17th, too — especially considering it came right after a bogey on the hole before.
“It was a very important shot, 17,” he said. “When I played 16, [I] made bogey, and maybe I felt like I lost a little momentum. But I tried [to be] a little more aggressive on 17 and 18 … It made [for] good momentum and a good finish.”
Lee, 29, earned his Tour card in 2019, though he had just two top-10 finishes in his rookie season. The Seoul native only has one other top-10 finish this season, when he finished runner-up at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February. He has only missed three cuts so far since January, however, and has qualified for the FedExCup Playoffs in both of his full seasons on Tour.
Lee will now get to compete at the PGA Championship next week at Kiawah Island in South Carolina, which will mark just his third appearance at a major championship. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open in 2014 as an amateur, and then missed it again in 2019.
Spieth finished top-10 in return from COVID
Though he failed to bring home the win at his hometown event, Jordan Spieth couldn’t complain about his outing this week at TPC Craig Ranch.
Spieth, who started the day just three strokes off the lead, finished T9 after posting a 1-under 71.
While a win undoubtedly would have been remarkable for Spieth, as he’s from the Dallas area and first made his Tour debut at the event when he was just 16, Spieth said he was happy with how things worked out. The tournament was his first back after contracting COVID-19, after all, and gave him a good feel of his game headed into next week’s major championship — the last one he needs to complete the career grand slam.
“Coming into the week if you told me [I would finish in the] top 10, I would probably take it,” he said, via The Associated Press. “I didn’t know where anything stood.”