On the final day of the PGA Tour season, Maverick McNealy found himself on the final hole of the RSM Classic with a putt to win his first PGA Tour event.
Tied with amateur Luke Clanton, Nico Echavarria and a resurgent Daniel Berger, McNealy hit a 6-iron to within 5 feet of the hole at the par-4 18th and then holed the putt to win at Sea Island.
“I’m shaking right now. I feel like I could run a marathon. I’m exhausted, but the adrenalin is unbelievable,” said McNealy, who finished at 16-under-par 266.
“I’ve hit a putt on a putting green to win a golf tournament thousands and thousands of times. It was almost like déjà vu standing over that last one, and it came off perfect.”
McNealy, 29, formerly the top-ranked amateur in the world, had considered remaining amateur rather than pursue a professional career after graduating from Stanford. The RSM Classic was McNealy’s 142nd start on tour, which included just five previous top-five finishes.
“It takes all year to have a bad year, and it takes one week to have a great year,” said McNealy, who earned $1.368 million from the $7.6 million prize fund and a two-year exemption, plus spots in the season-opening Sentry, the Masters and the PGA Championship.
Clanton was in position to join Nick Dunlap as the second amateur to win on tour this year, but a bogey at the 18th hole dropped him into a four-way tie for the lead before McNealy separated himself on the final hole.
Echavarria, seeking his second win in the tour’s fall season, also missed an 8-foot par putt on the 72nd green.
“Obviously finishing with a bogey on the last hole having the lead, it's not awesome, but I didn't feel comfortable at all the last two days, and I just played my heart out there,” Echavarria said.
“I was almost on defensive mode a lot of times and leaning on my putter, and the putter got hot. Unfortunately, the one on the last hole didn't drop, but overall it was an amazing week.”
“Makes you appreciate things a little more when times are tough. I thought a lot about everything. It came down to the last putt this week.”
Joel Dahmen
Joel Dahmen’s saga encapsulated the tournament within a tournament at Sea Island.
He began the week No. 124 on the points list, and his status was in serious jeopardy Friday where he needed to make a 6-foot par putt on his final hole in the second round to reach the weekend or lose his full tour status.
Even then, Dahmen was on the borderline until he shot a final-round 64 to keep him at 124th on the points list – and set for next year.
“Makes you appreciate things a little more when times are tough. I thought a lot about everything. It came down to the last putt this week,” Dahmen said.
“I hit thousands of golf shots this year, missed a lot of cuts, had a lot of opportunities to do everything, so I didn't have to come to this. So, I was thankful for the opportunity today, but I don't want to go through this ever again.”
The biggest mover on Sunday was Berger, who started the tournament at No. 127 but a tie for second place pushed him to 100th and was another encouraging sign as he returns from injury issues that sidelined him for more than a year. Henrik Norlander shot 63-68 on the weekend to slip into 120th on the points list after starting at No. 126.
Sam Ryder finished the year at No. 125 while two players – Zac Blair and Wesley Bryan – started the week inside the line but fell out after missing the cut, meaning they will have conditional status on the tour next year rather than full status.
Ron Green Jr.