PGA Tour rookie, Chesson Hadley, fired a five-under 67 on Sunday and won the Puerto Rico Open presented by Seepuertorico.com by two shots over Danny Lee for his first Tour win.
Hadley started the day one shot ahead of Lee and went to work right away with birdies on the second, fourth and fifth holes, before trading a bogey for a birdie on the sixth and seventh holes. Lee had birdies on the second and fourth holes but gave those two shots with bogeys at the seventh and eight holes.
Hadley’s lead grew to three as he made the turn over Andrew Loupe, who had made an early move and looked like he would try and challenge Hadley. A group of six, that included Lee, were four behind at that time.
Hadley went to par the first seven holes of the back nine, before feeling the pressure from Lee, who had birdied the 16th to get within one. Hadley responded with back-to-back birdies to close the tournament in style and win by two over Lee who also birdied the final hole.
For Hadley, a 26-year-old from Raleigh, North Carolina who finished third on the Web.com Tour last year, his first win on Tour will move him from No. 78 into the top 30 of the FedExCup standings pending the completion of the WGC-Cadillac Championship.
Hadley converted his first third-round lead/co-lead on Tour into victory. His third-round lead in Puerto Rico this week was the first time he held a lead after any round on Tour. For Lee this is his second Top 10 finish on the PGA Tour (the other, T7/2009 AT&T National).
Finishing in solo third was another Web.com Tour graduate, Ben Martin, who fired a six-under 65 to finish at 17-under. He records his first top 10 on Tour since his rookie season in 2011 (T6/Reno-Tahoe Open). Martin did not play on TOUR in 2012 or 2013, but finished second on the Web.com Tour last year.
He had made four cuts in nine starts on Tour this season and had missed three consecutive cuts coming into the Puerto Rico Open
There was a five-way tie for fourth at 16-under between Wes Roach (67), Richard lee (67), 2001 PGA Championship winner David Toms (69), Carl Pettersson (69) and Jason Gore (70).
Toms records his first top 10 since a seventh-place finish at the 2013 PGA Championship. Toms had missed his previous three cuts on Tour this season coming into the Puerto Rico Open (Humana Challenge, Waste Management Phoenix Open and Northern Trust Open).
Roach earned his first top-10 finish on Tour in his seventh career start. This was just his third made cut in seven starts on TOUR this season. Gore records his first top 10 on Tour since a T7 at the 2009 U.S. Bank in Milwaukee. His last Tour win came at the 2005 84 Lumber Classic.
Rounding up the Top 10 finishing in a tie for ninth at 15-under were Chris Stroud, who had the day’s low round at 65, Ricky Barnes (68) and Jerry Kelly (70).
Barnes, the 2009 U.S. Open runner-up, records his first top 10 of the season and first since a third-place finish at the 2012 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Barnes was coming off missed cuts in his last three starts on TOUR.
Rafael Campos, the lone Puerto Rican player to make the cut, followed yesterday’s 66 with a nice round of 69 to finish at nine-under in a tie for 29th.
Other notable finishes: Jonathan Byrd (72) T-12th at 14-under; Brooks Koepka (68), Ryo Ishikawa (69) and 2012 champion George McNeill (73) all T19th at 11-under; Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello (74) T-24th at 10-under.
Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo (66) and Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts (67) T-29th at nine-under. Last year’s champion, Scott Brown, finished 68th at three-under.