Gary Woodland ended a five-year wait for his third PGA Tour victory at the Waste Management Pheonix Open, beating Chez Reavie on the first sudden-death play-off hole.
Woodland shot a final-round 64 at TPC Scottsdale to set the clubhouse target of 18-under-par, birdieing five of his first nine holes to reach the turn tied for the lead.
He posted his first blemish of the day on the 11th before bouncing back at 13th, and although another dropped shot came at the 14th, Woodland finished with a trio of birdies from 15-17 to get to 18-under-par.
Reavie posted back-to-back birdies on his final two holes to make it in to the play-off
against Woodland, sinking a 20-foot birdie putt on the last to force the contest in to extra holes.
His efforts however would stop there, as a bogey from Reavie on the first extra hole afforded Woodland the chance to lag his birdie putt and tap in for what would be a very emotional victory for the American.
Last year, Woodland announced that he and his wife Gabby had lost one of their unborn twins, and he poined to the sky after he made his victory-winning par putt.
“Yeah, that was just kind of a tribute to last year,” Woodland said. “Obviously, we lost a little girl, and being there, seeing my wife give birth to her, that’s real.”
“Just wanted her to know I still love her.”
“It’s really hard to put in words right now,” Woodland said. “Last year we battled through it, couldn’t get to the off-season quick enough, couldn’t start 2018 soon enough. For [Jaxson] to be here, it’s obviously a miracle, but I’m just so excited to share this with him and my family, and hopefully it’s the start of something special.”
“I was in the zone,” he said. “I mean, I really had it going. My caddie asked me when I got done, did I know I made nine birdies. I didn’t even know I did that.”
Ollie Schniederjans and Brendan Steele finished two shots back in joint 3rd, while Matt Kuchar and Phil Mickelson both shared 5th spot with Byrson DeChambeau and Chesson Hadley.
Overnight leader Rickie Fowler fell away on the back-nine following several near birdie chances, finishing with a 73 to put him back in to a tie for 11th place in a group with six players that also included Daniel Berger and Jon Rahm.
WITB Gary Woodland
Driver: TaylorMade M3 440 (Accra Tour RPG shaft), 9 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade M2 Tour (Accra Tour ZX 4100 shaft), 15 degrees
5-wood: TaylorMade M2 (Accra Tour ZX 4100 shaft), 18 degrees
Irons: Titleist 716 MB (4-9; KBS Tour C-Taper 130X shafts)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 Raw (47-10F, 52-08F and 57-10S degrees; KBS shafts), Callaway Mack Daddy PM Grind (60-10 degrees; KBS shaft)
Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Prototype
Ball: Bridgestone Tour B X
