Sungjae Im of South Korea had done just about everything in his two seasons on the PGA Tour except win, until now.
The 21-year-old Im made two birdies down the stretch and closed with a 4-under-par 66 to win the Honda Classic by one stroke over Mackenzie Hughes of Canada on the Champion Course at PGA National Resort and Spa www.pgaresort.com in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Im had finished in the top 10 on 10 occasions and the top 25 another 22 times without winning on the PGA Tour, but now has four professional victories.
“I’ve been in this position many times before and that helped me stay in the moment,” Im, the 2019 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, said through his caddie and interpreter Albin Choi. “Those other experiences wee important, especially in pulling out the win on the last few holes.
“I knew I was one back going into the last four holes and was hitting the ball well, so I wanted to be aggressive. I made a birdie on 15 and hit the green on 16, so I felt good going to 17 and 18, where I had good numbers.
“I’m happy to finish the way I did.”
Im, who won twice on his way to becoming 2018 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year, birdied four of the first five holes and then sank birdie putts of about eight feet on both the 15th and 17th holes to record a winning score of 6-under 274.
Hughes, whose only PGA Tour victory came as a rookie in the 2016 RSM Classic, made the cut on the number before playing the weekend at 66-66, and missed a 21-foot birdie putt on the last hole that would have forced a playoff.
Third-round leader Tommy Fleetwood of England, seeking his first PGA Tour victory after winning five times on the European Tour, sank a 24-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to get to within one stroke of Im.
Then Fleetwood hit his approach shot into the water on the final hole to close out his 71 with a bogey and was two shots down in third.
Second-round leader Brendan Steele of Idyllwild and UC Riverside needed an eagle on the last hole to force a playoff, but also hit into the water to make bogey and shoot 71 to finish three back in a tie for fourth with Byeong Hun An of South Korea, who birdied the first four holes in a 67, Daniel Berger, who birdied three of the last four to finish at 69, and Lee Westwood of England, who birdied the last hole for a 70.
Reigning U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland birdied two of the last three holes for a 67 and wound up four strokes behind in a tie for eighth with Cameron Davis, who capped his 68 by holing out from 93 feet for an eagle, and Russell Henley, the 2014 Honda champion, who came in at 70.
British Open champion Shane Lowry of Ireland closed with a 70 and tie for 21st.
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