Brian Gay wins St. Jude Classic

Brian Gay of the USA led from start to finish to win the St. Jude Classic presented by FedEx. He claimed his second PGA Tour victory of 2009 and a place at the US Open finishing five shots clear of his countrymen, Bryce Molder and David Toms.

Brian Gay
Fergus Bisset
By
published

Brian Gay of the USA led from start to finish to win the St. Jude Classic presented by FedEx. He claimed his second PGA Tour victory of 2009 and a place at the US Open finishing five shots clear of his countrymen, Bryce Molder and David Toms.

Gay started the final day just one shot clear of Bryce Molder but he began to pull away on the par-3 fourth. Molder found the bunker and failed to get up and down, while Gay made a birdie two to open a four-stroke lead.

Bogeys by Gay on the seventh and 10th gave Molder the slimmest of chances but Gay put his foot on the accelerator again, making birdie at the, island green, 11th.

“I didn’t even get close to catching him.” Said Molder who can console himself with his best ever finish on Tour.

A birdie on the closing hole sealed the victory for Gay. It was a second PGA Tour win in the space of two months as Gay also won the Verizon Heritage at Harbour Town in April.

With this win Gay climbed to eighth on the PGA Tour money list and 35th on the Official World Golf Ranking. He also secured a start at Bethpage Black for the US Open with his last possible chance. He gets in as a multiple tour winner over the last calendar year.

“Right now I don't know if we're going home first or what we're going to do, whether we spend tomorrow traveling, going home and repacking,” Gay said. “Get to work on Tuesday I guess.”

David Toms finished strongly with a closing 65 to end the week tied for second with Molder. “It was a pretty good golf tournament except for one guy stealing the show.” He said.

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell closed with an excellent 63 to climb the leaderboard and finish in a tie for seventh place.

Phil Mickelson, in his first tournament start since his wife Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer, finished with a 75 and ended the week on a total of one over par.

St. Jude Classic presented by FedEx TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee June 11-14, purse $5,6000,000, par 70

1    Brian Gay (USA)        64    66    66    66    262    $1,008,000 T2    Bryce Molder (USA)    69    63    65    70    267    $492,800 T2    David Toms (USA)    67    66    69    65    267    $492,800 T4    Paul Goydos (USA)    72    64    64    68    268    $231,467 T4    John Senden (Aus)    69    66    69    64    268    $231,467 T4    Robert Allenby (Aus)    67    64    68    69    268    $231,467 T7    Jason Dufner (USA)    68    67    69    65    269    $180,600 T7    Graeme McDowell (NIR) 66    71    69    63    269    $180,600 9    Woody Austin (USA)    67    66    68    69    270    $162,400 T10    Jeff Overton (USA)    68    67    70    66    271    $145,600     T10    Heath Slocum (USA)    71    63    67    70    271    $145,600

Note: Players in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only

Fergus Bisset
Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?

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