K.H. Lee simply repeated himself in the AT&T Byron Nelson.
The 30-year-old Lee fired a bogey-free, 8-under-par 63 to win the 68th version of the tournament by one stroke over local favorite Jordan Spieth at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas.
Lee joined Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead as back-to-back winners of the AT&T Byron Nelson, which was first played in 1944, when Nelson was the winner.
“Last year I missed the cut at the PGA Championship,” said Lee, who claimed his sixth victory as a pro and second on the PGA Tour. “So my first goal is next week play well (in the PGA at Southern Hills), hopefully make the cut. This helps. This is really good. Hopefully, the rest of this season will be better than last year.
“This feels like a dream again, like last year. I’ve struggled with my game the past couple of months and I’ve had no top-10s this year, but when I’m here I’m more comfortable and more confident. I’ve tried my best and maybe being here has helped me.
“It’s an amazing feeling, with my family and my wife and my daughter (here), it’s amazing, really.”
Lee, who won four times in Asia and beat Sam Burns by three strokes in the 2021 AT&T Byron Nelson, collected seven birdies including four on the first six holes and hit a brilliant 240-yard approach shot to set up a five-foot eagle putt at No. 12 while recording a score of 26-under 262.
His tap-in birdie on the last hole gave him a two-shot lead and clinched the victory.
The eight-ranked Spieth, who won the RBC Heritage in his last start for his 15th PGA Tour victory, made his eighth birdie on the last hole in a 67, but it was too little and too late, in part because of a three-putt bogey at No. 10.
“It was a good week, good momentum into (the PGA) next week, my last two starts being a win and a second,” said Spieth, who has won the other three majors and will make his fifth attempt to complete the Career Grand Slam at Southern Hills.
“But this one will sting just a little bit just looking back on the day. But I played the holes from (No. 10) exactly how they were supposed to be played, grabbed three more birdies and it just wasn’t quite good enough.”
Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, the 2021 Masters champion who is ranked 11th, made six birdies on the front nine and sank a six-foot eagle putt on the last hole to cap a 62 and was two shots back in a tie for third with Sebastian Munoz, who led for much of the first three rounds before closing with a 69.
Tenth-ranked Xander Schauffele of la Jolla and San Diego State, the Olympic Gold Medalist, carded a career-best, bogey-free 61 that included a 97-yard hole-out for eagle on the sixth hole and nine birdies to wind up three down in a tie for fifth with ninth-ranked Justin Thomas, who had three birdies on each nine in a 67, and Ryan Palmer, who had seven birdies in a 67.
Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, the 2011 Masters champion, closed with a 67 to finish four strokes behind in solo eighth, while Peter Malnati had four birdies down the stretch to complete a 66 and was five back in a tie for ninth with Davis Riley, who birdied the last hole for a 67, and James Hahn of Alameda and Cal, who also birdied the last hole for a 69.
Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler shot 69 to tie for 15th, 16th-ranked Joaquin Niemann of Chile stumbled to a 74 and tied for 25th, and 12th-ranked Dustin Johnson tied for 59th following a 73.
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