Brendon Todd’s golf career was going so badly a year ago that he thought about going into the pizza business, but no more.
The 34-year-old Todd won his second straight tournament, holding off Vaughn Taylor, Adam Long and Carlos Ortiz of Mexico by one stroke in a Monday finish in the rain-delayed Mayakoba Golf Classic at El Camaleon Golf Club https://mayakobagolf.com › camaleon at Mayakoba Resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
The Monday finish was needed because the entire first round was rained out on Thursday.
“It was all very theoretical,” said Todd, who also won the Bermuda Championship two weeks ago and has taken the lead in the FedEx Cup standings after making the cut only six times in 49 events heading into 2019. “It’s incredible. I’m just overcome with emotion right now. The whole final round was much more nerve-wracking than Bermuda.
“(Winning two in a row is) super special. This win might honestly mean more to me than the last one, this being a full FedEx Cup event, full $7.2 million purse and a resort that I just love.”
When Todd returned on Monday morning tied for the lead with Taylor, he sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole to regain the lead, and after both made bogeys at No. 16, Todd held on with two straight pars to finish.
Todd, whose only other PGA Tour victory before these two came in the 2014 HP Byron Nelson Championship, closed with a 3-under-par 68 to record a winning score of 20-under.
Taylor, who has won three times on the circuit, but not since the 2016 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, also shot 68, while Ortiz and Long, winner of the 2019 Desert Classic, both finished at 66.
Harris English, who won the 2013 Mayakoba Classic, had a 70 to wind up three shots back in solo fifth, while rookie Robby Shelton and Joel Dahmen both totaled 65 to finish five back in a tie for sixth.
Abraham Ancer of Mexico shot 67 and finished six shots behind in a tie for eighth with Billy Horschel, who had a 68, and Pat Perez of San Diego, who came in at 69.
Defending champion Matt Kuchar closed with a 62 that was the best score of the week and tied for 14th.
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