Aaron Rai shot 64 in the final round of the Wyndham Championship on Sunday to beat Max Greyserman. It was a shocking reversal at the end of the event that saw Greyserman make a quadruple bogey and a double bogey in the last five holes.
Rai trailed by four shots with just five holes to go after Greyserman holed out for eagle on the par-4 13th hole. However, Greyserman, a rookie on the PGA Tour this year, hit his next tee ball out of bounds and made an 8 to give back all four shots he led by in the span of about 20 minutes.
Two holes later, after a birdie at the 15th put him back up one on Rai, he three-putted from 3 feet on the par-3 16th to go from one shot up to one shot down. Rai did the rest with an up and down from 199 yards for birdie at the last for his first victory on Tour.
The Englishman was obviously thrilled.
"Incredible, a dream come true," Rai told CBS Sports. Truly a dream come true. Even getting to the PGA Tour, but understanding how difficult it is out there and how strong the standard of golf is. I'm extremely grateful, I think it hasn't quite sunk in yet. An amazing achievement."
This was not a victory out of nowhere either. According to Data Golf, Rai ranks No. 17 in the world in total strokes gained in the last three months. He is keeping company with Patrick Cantlay, Ludvig Aberg, Joaquin Niemann and Bob MacIntyre. He finished in the top 20 at the Canadian Open and U.S. Open before notching three straight top 10s at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, John Deere Classic and Scottish Open.
He also finished first in the field this week at the Wyndham in approach play, ball striking and tee to green play.
While the way the tournament ended was bizarre, and Rai may have won because Greyserman lost, this victory is no fluke. Rai is for real and has only been getting better. In each of his last six seasons, Rai's overall strokes gained number has improved every single year. That is only the product of tremendous work and dedication to improvement. And while there are some limitations on how far Rai can go with limited power, his consistent improvement just culminated in a wild PGA Tour victory, and there may be a lot more contention (and possibly even more victories) that follow.Grade: A+
2. Max Greyserman (-16): Greyserman said all the right things in the aftermath, but being up four with five to go, making another birdie coming home and still losing by two is going to sting.
"I'm just going to walk away that I played really, really good golf, executed really well," he said. "Had probably ... I don't know, four-shot lead. I had a four-shot lead with five holes to go? If you're doing that in a PGA Tour event, you're doing something exceptionally well, so that's what I'm going to walk away with." Grade: A-
5. Luke Clanton (-14): The amateur just notched his third top 10 on the PGA Tour this season to go along with a T41 at the U.S. Open. Nobody has put together three top 10s on the PGA Tour as an amateur since Jack Nicklaus in 1961.
"That's pretty cool, for sure," said Clanton, in the understatement of the year when he was told about the Nicklaus stat.
What's somewhat incredible is that Clanton played 39 holes on Sunday to finish his second, third and then final round. And all of it ended just 18 hours before his tee time on Monday at the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine.Grade: A+
T12. Matt Kuchar (-11): In one of the most bizarre things we have seen all year, Matt Kuchar began the last hole with his group but would not hit his second shot, instead electing to come back on Monday morning. This despite being seven shots back of the lead and nowhere near the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Also despite everyone from his group -- including Greyserman! -- finishing the hole. The difference between T12 and T21, which Kuchar is starting at given a poor drive on the 18th, is roughly $58,000. A lot of money to me and you, but probably not to Kuchar, who has made $59 million in his career. Grade: Inc.
T33. Victor Perez (-8): What makes Perez's T33 worthy of consideration this week? He played his way into the FedEx Cup Playoffs in the final spot (No. 70), which makes him the last man into the FedEx St. Jude Championship. He closed with eight consecutive pars in his final round to maintain the 70th position, which is where he started the week, where he was for most of Sunday and where he eventually finished. Grade: C
MC. Jordan Spieth (-2): This week was emblematic of Spieth's season. He was tremendous off the tee and struggled with everything else. He talked at length before the event started about how his wrist has affected him and how it needs to be fixed in the offseason. What that entails is up in the air, but what seems certain is that at No. 64 in the FedEx Cup standings, next week's FedEx St. Jude Championship will be the last time we see him this season. Grade: D-
