BLAINE, Minn. — Lee Hodges hardly ever will get rattled, besides maybe throughout Alabama soccer video games when he is rooting for his beloved Crimson Tide.
After utilizing that unflappable demeanor to maintain management of the 3M Open, Hodges lastly let unfastened.
Hodges shot a 67 within the ultimate spherical on Sunday for a wire-to-wire title on the 3M Open and his first tour victory, setting match data with a 260 and a seven-stroke win.
“The method I went via, I will take this week endlessly,” Hodges mentioned. “I will simply attempt to hold replicating this week each time I present as much as a match.”
Hodges, who began the day with a five-stroke lead on J.T. Poston, was up by 3 getting into the par-5 final gap on his sixty fifth profession begin. After Poston’s go-for-broke method yielded a triple bogey, Hodges tapped in a brief putt for his third birdie of the spherical.
“I needed to try to give it a shot and see if there was a way I may make 3 there on the finish and put some strain on Lee,” Poston mentioned.
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Lee, a 28-year-old Alabama native, hugged and hoisted his spouse, Savannah, in celebration after she hustled out to the inexperienced to greet him. Then Jay Seawell, Hodges’ faculty coach at Alabama, shocked him with a particular look and a milkshake in hand. Not dangerous for a man from the small city of Ardmore.
“I am tremendous proud to be from there and characterize these folks,” Hodges mentioned. “Man, I am positive there’s a celebration occurring in north Alabama proper now.”
Poston shot a 69 to drop right into a three-way tie for second place with Martin Laird and Kevin Streelman. Dylan Wu shot a 64 to match Keith Mitchell for fifth at 16 beneath.
Tony Finau, the defending champion and highest-ranked participant at tenth within the FedEx Cup standings collaborating on this discipline, shot a 70 to land in a three-way tie for seventh.
Hodges shot a 63 on Thursday, a 64 on Friday and a 66 on Saturday to take a commanding lead into the ultimate spherical on the TPC Twin Cities course in Blaine on a former sod farm in suburban Minneapolis. He had two eagles and two bogeys on Sunday, following an aggressive method.
With one earlier top-three end in 2022 at The American Specific in La Quinta, California, Hodges mentioned Saturday he could not recall a five-shot lead in his total profession, beginner competitors included, and felt as if he was “enjoying with home cash” together with his place on the tour subsequent season secured.
“Final evening, me and my spouse, we ate dinner right here, after which we went to get some ice cream, and I slept like a child,” Hodges mentioned.
Getting into the week in 74th place within the FedEx Cup standings, Hodges soared to thirty third with the $1.4 million prize for the win. He turned the twenty third third-round chief or co-leader to win on tour this season, following Brian Harman final week on the British Open.
Poston entered the week in sixtieth place within the FedEx Cup standings and shot as much as thirty eighth.
Hodges set the 54-hole match file at 193, two strokes higher than the rating Scott Piercy took into the ultimate spherical final yr. Piercy proceeded to shoot a 76, together with a triple bogey on No. 14, and squander a five-stroke lead with 11 holes to go. Finau shot a 67 and gained the trophy by three strokes.
Hodges prevented that destiny. His lead was lower from 6 to 4 when he three-putted the fifteenth gap and Poston, his final-round enjoying accomplice, smacked his second shot from the green to the inexperienced about 7 ft from the cup for his fourth birdie of the afternoon. However Hodges bounced proper again to match Poston’s birdie on 16.
“He performed nice all day. We knew it was going to take one thing fairly particular to tug it off,” Poston mentioned.
Poston’s second shot from the tough on the sting of the water glanced off the rocks on the retaining wall and ricocheted backward off the floating match brand earlier than a splash that value him a penalty stroke. His fifth shot rolled down the slope on the entrance of the inexperienced, and he overshot his first putt.
Beau Hossler gave his postseason bid a bump with a blistering 62 within the ultimate spherical to tie the course file and end at 13 beneath for the match, tied for thirteenth place. Piercy, Bryson DeChambeau, Lucas Glover and champion Matthew Wolff every shot a 62 throughout the inaugural occasion in 2019.
The 28-year-old Hossler entered the week in 62nd place on the FedEx Cup standings. The highest 70 gamers qualify for the three-stage playoff occasion that begins Aug. 10 with the St. Jude Championship. There’s yet another cease on the tour subsequent weekend on the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, to maneuver up — or slide down.
Hossler made eight straight birdies from holes 9 via 16, one wanting the PGA Tour file. That included a 45-foot putt he holed on his second shot on No. 13 that, he mentioned, had “no enterprise” entering into.
