Casey hit his tee shot to 5 feet for birdie on the par-3 16th, and then drilled a fairway metal into the swirling wind on the par-5 18th, and it worked out perfectly. He took care of that with a 3-iron within 30 inches on the final hole for eagle and a three-shot lead at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
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The 39-year-old Englishman counts the 2009 Shell Houston Open as his only Tour victory, and was unable to add to his win total thanks to a final-round 73 that left him 13 under and in solo second.
PGA champion Jimmy Walker shot a 70, placing him four back and in a three-way tie for third with second-round leader Kevin Chappell, who shot a 71, and Smylie Kaufman, who shot 68.
Remnants of Hermine are expected Monday, so the starting times have been moved forward to give the PGA Tour the best chance to finish. I tweaked a tiny little tweak on Saturday morning on the putting green, and I saw some putts go in and got some confidence from that. “Felt like I hung in there and finished with six straight pars from not-the-best position”.
US PGA Championship victor Jimmy Walker finished third on 12 under after a second successive 70 while Adam Scott ended with three straight birdies to match McIlroy’s 65 and take fourth on 11 under.
As the wind picked up, no one could stay with him.
“I started to roll in a few putts, and when you do that your confidence builds, and you feel like you can go out and shoot scores like I did today”, he said.
David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., shot a 69 and is tied for 11th at 8 under.
“There’s still things we’re missing and it hurts”, said Casey. The PGA Tour prepared for the conditions by moving up several tees. “Shows how good guys are out there”. But it might be tougher to pick a “hot” player who doesn’t even make it to the third playoff event.
Just five players were within five shots of Casey. And then there were the injuries, which slowed his career. We’ll only change it I think if we need to, maybe on the last couple of holes if we need to push.
All he has left is one more round, and what figures to be a day of nasty weather.
Open champion Henrik Stenson was 10 shots off Casey’s lead on five under after a 70, tied with former Masters champion Adam Scott (70) and world number three Jordan Spieth (72).
Day, No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings, played the front nine at 2 under after four birdies and two bogeys, but carded a double bogey on No. 10 after incurring a one-stroke penalty after driving into the native area.
Dustin Johnson wasn’t among them. The 2012 Deutsche Bank victor came within three feet of a two with his 210-yard shot from the fairway.
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The belt is also inscribed with the tournament name, Deutsche Bank Championship, which after this year will no longer apply since EMC is taking over title sponsorship beginning next season. The loss may hurt but no damage has been done.This match will be one to forget as quickly as she can.It has been a long, hard year for Konta and the Open is her 20th event in nine months, so she can be forgiven for being a bit tired and jaded.
