South Korea's Sang-Moon Bae beat Keegan Bradley of the USA by two strokes to win the HP Byron Nelson Championship at the TPC Four Seasons Resort in Irving, Texas.
It was Bae's first PGA Tour victory and one that moves the 26-year-old to 18th on the FedEx Cup standings. The South Korean began the final round one shot behind Keegan Bradley, who had started the tournament with a course-record round of 60.
But Bae moved ahead in extremely challenging, windy conditions with four birdies in the space of five holes on the front nine of round four. It looked like the young South Korean might stroll away with the title, four shots clear at one point. But a double-bogey at the 9th and a bogey on the next meant the gap was narrowed to just one.
Bradley won the title here in 2011 and it seemed he might take another victory when he birdied the 15th to draw level. But he missed from short range at the next after Bae had made a birdie of his own.
Two pars on the closing holes were sufficient for Bae to take the title and pick up a cheque for $1.2 million.
"It's something I've always dreamed of, winning on the PGA Tour," he said. "When my iron play came back on during the last part of the round, I had confidence in myself."
Bradley was hoping to become the first wire-to-wire winner of the tournament since Tom Watson in 1980, but his effort came up just short.
"I'm pretty disappointed but Moon played very well," Bradley said. "I just didn't play great today, but I hung in there. I chipped away. When I made that putt on 15, I was pretty confident that I was going to win."
South Africa's Charl Schwartzel fired an excellent closing round of 68 to move up into third place, while Justin Boli scored 65 (the round of the day) to climb into fourth.
HP Byron Nelson Championship TPC Four Seasons Resort, Irving, Texas May 16-19, purse $6,700,000, par 70
1 Sang-Moon Bae (Kor) 66 66 66 69 267 $1,206,000 2 Keegan Bradley (USA) 60 69 68 72 269 $723,600 3 Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 63 70 69 68 270 $455,600 4 Justin Boli (USA) 69 69 68 65 271 $321,600 T5 Morgan Hoffman (USA) 69 71 66 66 272 $244,550 T5 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 67 69 68 272 $244,550 T5 Scott Piercy (USA) 66 68 66 72 272 $244,550 T8 Charley Hoffman (USA) 68 68 70 67 273 $201,000 T8 John Huh (USA) 69 64 69 71 273 $201,000 T10 Graham DeLaet (Can) 67 67 70 70 274 $174,200 T10 Ryo Ishikawa (Jap) 71 68 68 67 274 $174,200
Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage Where next? European Tour - Graeme McDowell wins Volvo World Match Play
