Closing with three straight birdies not only gave Kisner the lead, he set the 54-hole record at Sea Island at 16-under 196.
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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.
Overnight leader Kevin Kisner is one shot behind Chappell after carding a three-under-par spherical of 67 on the Seaside Course & the American is joined in 2nd place by Swede Freddie Jacobson, who completed five-under-par for his day on the adjoining par-72 Plantation Course.
That was not going to happen as Kisner, 31, finally broke his PGA Tour hoodoo after three play-off defeats in his career. “It shows all that hard work I’ve done has paid off”.
And in the final round of the final tournament of the year, Kisner finally captured his first PGA Tour title with a 6-under 64 for a six-shot victory over Kevin Chappell. “In China I was feeling as good as ever in that position”. “That’s when you know you’ve done your job”.
American Kyle Stanley was alone in fourth at nine under after shooting a four-birdie 67 on the Seaside Course. He wound up going the wrong direction. The junior at Alabama was 3 under until playing the final seven holes in 7 over.
“Never crossed my mind just thinking about making the cut”, he said.
“I’m like, “Okay, I just picked this ball up”.
McDowell made the putt and made five birdies in a bogey-free round.
It was bittersweet to his son pack his bags.
“This year I saw the strides where I’m leading coming into Saturday or taking the lead early in the week or having a chance on Sunday”, he said.
Kisner’s game began to turn around when Scott Brown, his good friend at Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken, South Carolina, suggested he meet with swing coach John Tillery. He tried to hit a little dinky 2-iron in there and he pulled it over the green in a bad place.
“For me it doesn’t really get any better than that”, said Sullivan.
Kisner missed only three fairways and three greens and found the putting surface in regulation on 10 of his last 11 holes. And based on how they looked at Sea Island, it doesn’t seem like a fair fight. The next trick is to finish. After his lone bogey of the day at the par-3 12th, Chappell answered with style at the 15th.
“It’s going to be a type of new atmosphere but I’m just going to keep playing the way I’m playing”. He probably should have won The Players Championship except for that birdie putt on the 18th that somehow stayed out of the cup.
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“At the start of the week, I would say the biggest trophy that would mean a lot to me would be the Rolex Player of the Year”, Ko said.
