McKINNEY, Texas — Jason Day didn’t make the Mother’s Day connection until he saw his late mom’s name on the back of his caddie’s bib on the primary green throughout the final round of the Byron Nelson.
That was just yet another reason for the emotions to flow over the Australian’s first victory in five years.
Day shot 9-under 62 for a one-shot victory over Austin Eckroat and Si Woo Kim on Sunday, ending a drought suffering from health issues that overlapped with Dening Day’s long battle with lung cancer before her death just a little greater than a 12 months ago.
“It was very emotional to undergo and to experience what she was going through, then I had injuries on top of all of that occurring in my life,” Day said. “It feels strange to be sitting here.”
Day, winless in 105 starts for the reason that 2018 Wells Fargo, took his first outright lead from a big group of contenders when he broke a tie at 20 under with hometown favorite Scottie Scheffler with a chip-in for birdie on the par-4 twelfth.
It was the second-toughest hole of the week after being converted from a par-5 from the primary two years the Nelson was held at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, about 30 miles north of Dallas.
Day finished 23 under while ending his victory drought the week before the PGA Championship. The one major among the many 35-year-old’s 13 wins was the 2015 PGA.
Day’s first profession PGA Tour victory got here on the 2010 Nelson, and the victories kept coming until issues his back and vertigo had him on the verge of leaving the sport in recent times.
“To be on the opposite side of it, be healthy, feeling good about my game, finally winning again,” Day said. “No higher feeling, really.”
C.T. Pan finished at 21-under 263 with two eagles on the back nine in a career-low 62, driving the green on the par-4 14th and making a 24-foot putt. His eagle on the par-5 18th got him inside a shot of Day.
Scheffler finished at 20 under with a final-round 65 after a par on 18, where a day earlier his second shot hit the lip of a fairway bunker and stayed in it on the solution to a bogey.
The 2022 Masters winner was playing for the primary time in a month coming off this 12 months’s Masters and the RBC Heritage. He had the hometown highlight to himself after three-time major winner Jordan Spieth withdrew due to a wrist injury.
“I feel like I played solid,” Scheffler said. “The things that I wanted to enhance on during the last three weeks, I feel like I did a great job. I didn’t swing it my best this weekend, but I’m sure that’ll be a simple fix going into next week.”
Ryan Palmer, the 46-year-old Texan who lives not removed from Craig Ranch, shot 68 and finished 4 strokes back while attempting to change into the oldest PGA Tour winner since Phil Mickelson won the 2021 PGA at 50.
With the heaviest rain coming down near the top of an off-and-on rainy final round, Day put his approach at 18 inside 3 feet. Kim’s short birdie putt forced Day to make his easy tap-in before he greeted his kids and wife, who’s expecting their fifth child.
Kim, who shot 63 and was 22 under with Eckroat, was attempting to make it 4 consecutive South Korean winners on the Nelson. Two-time defending champion K.H. Lee finished 11 under after a 67, his best round of the week.
Sung Kang was the 2019 winner. The Nelson was canceled due to pandemic in 2020.
Eckroat, a 24-year-old rookie from Oklahoma searching for his first tour victory, was two shots back within the 18th fairway, but his approach landed 68 feet from the pin. The eagle bid was 6 feet short as Eckroat settled for a 65.
Day began the ultimate round two shots back and was a part of a six-way tie for the lead with the ultimate group about to make the turn. Nine players were inside a shot of the lead around the identical time.
“I looked on hole nine and saw I don’t know the way many guys, but 10, 15 guys had a likelihood to win realistically, and it was crazy,” Eckroat said. “You’re just attempting to stand up there, and it was fun to get some separation at the top and see if you happen to could get a likelihood to win.”
China’s Marty Dou, playing on his home course and likewise searching for his first tour win while playing in the ultimate group with Eckroat and Palmer, shot 67 to complete 20 under. Dou was the primary to achieve that mark before a double-bogey on No. 8 when his second shot went out of bounds over the green.
Scheffler, the second-ranked player who could have overtaken Jon Rahm for No. 1 with a victory, was joined at 20 under by Tyrrell Hatton, who was next on the world rating list within the Nelson field at No. 17.
