Another little-known player roars through The Greenbrier
SHEPHERDSTOWN – One PGA win. Nine runner-up finishes. Eight third-place efforts.
And now it’s two PGA tour wins for plucky Kevin Na after his sizzling last round lifted him to a victory in White Sulphur Springs at the tour’s A Salute to the Military at The Greenbrier professional golf event.
Na had not won on the tour since 2011, but long birdie putts in the middle of his Sunday round carried him quickly to the top of the leaderboard . . . and with no other player carving up the Old White TPC course it was a coast-home win by five shots for the popular player. Na carded a six-under 64 on his fourth round.
Na was playing in the next-to-last twosome and when neither Kelly Kraft nor Harold Varner III in the final group could tame the 7,298-yard course, he could sense his impending win by the 15th hole. Kraft shot and even-par 70 and was held to his 14-under par score he had after the third round. Varner III managed only a two-over-par 72 on Sunday and finished at 12 under-par.
Bubba Watson, a three-time winner on tour this year, began the day at 11 under-par but never flashed any of his patented come-from-behind form, and carded a disappointing 72 on his final round to fall to nine-under for the tournament.
Watson had won the Traveler Championship just a few weeks ago when he trailed by six strokes going into the final round.
The tournament and its galleries were treated to unusually beautiful weather in both the third and fourth rounds, when both days featured high temperatures of 75 degrees with only a little breeze and very low humidity.
Watson has property at The Greenbrier Sporting Club and donated more than $100,000 to the area to alleviate suffering felt because of the massive floods that badly damaged much of central West Virginia in 2016, which forced The Greenbrier Classic to be canceled that summer.
Phil Mickelson, another property owner at The Greenbrier Sporting Club, made the cut in the tournament but was really no factor on the leaderboard.
The PGA tour visits the Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois this week for the John Deere Classic before the world’s best players go to Carnoustie in Scotland for the British Open that begins on Thursday.