Apr 17, 2017: Wesley Bryan remembers pestering players with a lot of crazy questions at Harbour Town Golf Links as he followed father George III’s only appearance at the RBC Heritage in 2004. Anirban Lahiri shot a disciplined 71 in the final round, ending the week placed in T44.
“I was probably the most annoying 14-year-old there was,” Bryan said.
Once a pesky teen, Bryan’s now a PGA TOUR winner.
Bryan rallied from four-shots down Sunday to win his home state tournament, closing with a 4-under 67 for a one-stroke victory over Luke Donald.
Bryan, a South Carolina native who played college golf for the Gamecocks, moved into contention with four consecutive birdies on the front nine. He took the lead with a birdie on the 15th hole and finished at 13-under 271.
Bryan earned $1.17 million, a TOUR exemption through the 2018-19 season and a spot in the 2018 Masters.
While excited about the breakthrough victory, Bryan believes it’s just a stepping stone to bigger dreams he’s had since playing the game as a child.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t really change anything other than I now have one PGA TOUR victory,” he said. “There are a lot of guys that have just one PGA TOUR victory. My one goal is to get number two at this point.”
Donald shot 68 in his latest close call at Harbour Town Golf Links — it was his fifth second-place finish here since 2009.
The 27-year-old Bryan tapped in for par on the closing hole to make the former trick-shot artist the first South Carolinian to win the state’s lone PGA TOUR event.
Ollie Schniederjans, Patrick Cantlay and William McGirt tied for third, two strokes behind Bryan.
Schniederjans shot 68, Cantlay 67 and McGirt 69.
Bryan was largely known as a YouTube sensation, he and brother George IV, another Gamecocks golfer, pulling off often unbelievable trick shots — like chipping the ball 20 yards to a waiting Bryan brother to belt away before it hits the ground.
There were no tricks to Wesley Bryan’s round this time, the first to win at Harbour Town in his first try since Boo Weekley won the first of his two straight RBC Heritages in 2007.
Bryan got it going with his front-nine run, with birdies on the fourth, fifth, sixth and seven holes. After Bryan moved in front on the 15th, he sweated out three straight two-putt pars.
Associated Press Report on PGA TOUR website
