Spieth will tee it up again next week in Los Angeles at the Northern Trust Open. It might be an even better story because Vaughn Taylor did win. He earned $1.26 million for his third PGA Tour victory and rose to No. 100 in the world. With his caddie toting a carry bag, Taylor became an unlikely victor at Pebble Beach and won for the first time in 11 years with a 7-under-par 65 to finish at 17-under 270 on another bright day by Carmel Bay and Stillwater Cove.
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Phil Mickelson hits out of a bunker onto the second green of the Pebble Beach Golf Links during the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament Sunday.
Had Mickelson made the putt on 18, it would have forced a playoff with Taylor and given him the opportunity to win his first trophy since the 2013 British Open at Muirfield.
So, with a family and after the boating accident, it’s understandable why after his victory, Taylor would say, “I’m so thankful, so lucky to be here. I could just feel it. I had to keep my emotions under check, and I kept just trying to stay calm, and I can’t believe it happened”. “I just flushed it. It was kind of going in from the start”.
He will be going for a record-tying fifth victory in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
“It never crossed my mind that I wouldn’t make that one, and when it didn’t go in, I was a bit shocked”. You can see him play in John Deere Classic Pro-Am every year.
Just a week ago, Taylor was in Bogota, Colombia, to play in a Web.com tournament.
Taylor was No. 447 in the world and had never won a tournament against the best players.
Taylor has come close to winning on the PGA Tour in recent years, but up until Sunday night, his previous win came at the 2005 Reno-Tahoe Open.
Blixt fired a three-under-par 69, which included three birdies, two bogeys and a 12-foot eagle putt at the par-five sixth to finish a further shot back.
Hiroshi Iwata of Japan was two strokes back after a 69 at Spyglass Hill.
Former Washington Husky Nick Taylor (71) tied for 30th place at 5 under and Kyle Stanley (73) of Gig Harbor tied for 41st at 2under.
Down in two for a playoff was all he needed… but Mickelson’s attempt from six feet amazingly lipped out of the hole and he was left on 72 for 16 under par 271. “I putted really well, and made a couple long ones”.
Vaughn Taylor celebrates after making his putt on the 16th hole.
“Oh my God, I’m thinking about Augusta”, he said.
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“I’m 58 now, so if you look at the statistics, a lot of guys don’t win when they’re near 60”. I was missing a bunch of putts – short, long, mid, it didn’t matter.
