Hoey saves 69, finishes joint 25th at Wyndham
MANILA, Philippines — Rico Hoey steadied a roller-coaster final round with a late birdie to close with a 69 and finish joint 25th in the Wyndham Championship, which American Michael Brennan won in commanding fashion in Greensboro, North Carolina on Sunday (Monday Manila time).
Hoey, who opened with impressive rounds of 66 and 65 before struggling to a 71 in the third, carded a one-under 34 on the front nine at Sedgefield Country Club. He made four birdies but gave back three strokes on a bogey and a double-bogey.
The ICTSI-backed Filipino-American shotmaker minimized his mistakes on the back nine, although he missed a couple of birdie opportunities. After failing to save par from eight feet on No. 12, he recovered with consecutive pars before rolling in a 19-foot birdie putt on the 16th to preserve his one-under card.
He closed with two more pars for a four-day total of 271, or nine under par, good for a share of 25th — 10 places lower than his joint-15th finish at the Rocket Classic the previous week, his best result of the season.
Hoey hit a 10-foot birdie putt on the first hole after a superb approach to raise hopes of a final-round charge. But an errant drive on the second led to a bogey, which he immediately erased with an eight-foot birdie putt on the par-3 third.
After a regulation par, Hoey two-putted for birdie on the par-5 fifth, then narrowly missed a 21-footer on the next hole. His struggles returned on the par-3 seventh, where he dumped his tee shot into the water and eventually made double-bogey after missing a 14-footer for bogey.
He nearly salvaged an eagle on the par-4 eighth after another solid wedge approach before settling for birdie, then closed the front nine with a routine par.
Hoey failed to create makeable birdie chances on the first two holes of the back nine and could not save par from eight feet on No. 12. He followed with two pars, then missed a nine-footer for birdie on the par-5 15th before finally converting from 19 feet on the next.
Two closing pars completed his 69.
The improved putting was a welcome development after Hoey's struggles on the greens in the third round, when he had four three-putts. Still, the late recovery was not enough to produce another top-20 finish after his strong opening two rounds.
At the top, Brennan turned what had appeared to be a potentially wild finish into a comfortable three-stroke victory with a closing 64, spiked by a decisive five-birdie binge from No. 4. for a 22-under 258 total.
Brennan finished at 22-under 258, three strokes ahead of Beau Hossler, who shot a 67 for 261. Ben James charged from out of nowhere with a spectacular 61 to finish solo third at 262, although he ran out of holes to mount a serious late challenge as the other contenders faltered.
Tom Kim, who surged into contention with a third-round 63, also faded with a closing 70 and wound up joint fifth at 265.
- Latest
- Trending
