With the RSM Classic in his hands, Kisner ran with it. His three-shot lead turned into a six-shot lead at the turn, and he breezed home with a 6-under 64 to win by six shots over Kevin Chappell.
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Kisner added an 8-foot par save at the par-5 seventh hole after finding the dunes with his second shot to total 83 feet of putts made for his first nine holes, almost equaling his total for Saturday’s round.
Kisner came in with a three shot lead over Kevin Chappell and he never looked back.
In addition to a second place behind Scotsman Russell Knox earlier this month at the World Golf Championships event in Shanghai, Kisner lost playoffs to Jim Furyk at the Heritage last April, Rickie Fowler at the Players Championship last May and New Zealand’s Danny Lee last July at the Greenbrier Classic. Jang closed with a bogey for a 69, a round where she twice had to deal with nosebleeds she thought were brought on by hot, humid conditions. “In China I was feeling as good as ever in that position”. He started the day on 16-under par, three shots ahead of Chappell and four clear of McDowell and shot 64 for 260, 22-under par. He was in the final group going into the weekend at Sea Island in 2013, and was four shots behind at the halfway point a year ago. I’m like, ‘OK, I just picked this ball up.’ What an idiot….
The hard-luck player on the PGA Tour this year, Kisner pulled away Saturday afternoon with three shots that all led to birdies – a tough tee shot on the 16th, a 6-iron that almost went in for an ace on the par-3 17th and a 30-foot putt on the 18th.
“I’m getting more and more comfortable in these situations”, Kisner said.
“I think this is the third year in a row I’ve been near the last group on the weekend”, he said. Kyle Stanley of Gig Harbor is two shots off the lead. The junior at Alabama played the final seven holes at Plantation in 7 over, closing with a pair of double bogeys for a 42 on the front nine and a 76 to miss the cut.
What made this different was that Love’s son is still in college – and the tour tweaked the groupings so they could play together.
Love played the first two rounds with his father, who was bang on the cut mark on two under after a second successive round of 70. “And I stopped worrying about him and started worrying about me a little more”. He heard someone say, “Go in!” before a dozen or so people in the gallery began to cheer.
THE OTHERS: Ten of the top 20 players on the leaderboard have not won on the PGA Tour.
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With the win, Kisner jumps up from eighth in the FedEx Cup standings to first place as the PGA Tour heads into a winter hiatus.
