DALLAS -- American Billy Horschel parred the first playoff hole to beat world number four Jason Day on Sunday to win the PGA Byron Nelson tournament, registering his first victory since 2014.
Horschel came into the tournament having missed four consecutive cuts but turned his fortunes around with some incredible putting at the TPC Four Seasons resort near Dallas.
Australia's Day missed a short putt on the 18th hole that would have extended the playoff to hand Horschel the victory.
"That's not the way I wanted to win it," said Horschel. "Four missed cuts to come in here and I played this well -- someone is looking out for me."
Both Horschel and Day finished 72 holes on 12-under par 269. Day fired a two-under 68 Sunday while Horschel shot 69, each finishing one stroke ahead of American James Hahn, who was third after shooing 71.
American Jason Kokrak finished fourth on 270.
Horschel had the top putting percentage in the players in the field while world number four Day had made 95 percent of his putts inside five feet this season before missing what appeared to be a routine four-footer to drop the playoff.
Day, Horschel and Hahn all played in the final group, creating a bit of a match-play scenario.
Horschel's two-putt birdie on the par-5 16th moved him back into a tie for the lead with Day while Hahn's par on the hole all but ended his chances. Both Day and Horschel parred 17 and 18.
Danny Lee of New Zealand (68), American Sean O'Hair (68), An Byeong-Hun of South Korea (69) and Amrican Bud Cauley (70) shared fifth on 272.
Canada's Nick Taylor (65), Joel Dahmen (67), Matt Kuchar (69) and Cameron Tringale (72) were another stoke back.
World number one Dustin Johnson never made a serious run and finished tied for 13th at 274.
Defending champion Sergio Garcia, who won his firts major title last month at the Masters, shot 74, the Spaniard finishing in a tie for 20th on 276.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Jason Day made the most of a frantic moving day at the AT&T Byron Nelson on Saturday by firing a seven-under 63 in the third round to move within two shots of leader James Hahn at TPC Las Colinas in Texas.
World number four Day began nine shots off the pace but made a run of five birdies in a row from the seventh and crowned a brilliant round with a 60-foot birdie putt at the par-three 17th to reach 10-under 200 for the tournament.
Hahn made three birdies on each nine in a bogey-free 64 to grab the 54-hole lead at 12 under par in his quest for a third PGA Tour victory.
Billy Horschel, the 2014 FedExCup champion, was alone in second place one shot back at 11-under after birdies at the last three, including a holeout from the greenside bunker at 17 for his 66.
Second-round leader Jason Kokrak, who led by five strokes after firing a 62 on Friday, moved in the wrong direction shooting a two-over 72 marked by a triple-bogey six at the par-three fifth hole.
Kokrak was tied for third with Day on 10 under par at the Four Seasons Resort in Irving, Texas.
Hahn said his first birdie of the day at the third hole, where he chipped in on the fly from off the green, put him in a great frame of mind.
"The chip in on three today kind of settled things down," Hahn said after the round. "I just needed one of those good breaks to happen to keep the momentum going."
Hahn could have shot even lower as he narrowly missed birdie putts on the last three holes.
Day said the key for him was locking in on his routines.
"Everything was kind of clicking," said the Australian, who won his first PGA Tour event here in 2010.
"The biggest thing for me ... was the process. The pre-shot routine was a lot smoother. The process of thinking over the golf ball was a lot smoother as well.
"When things like that happen you can kind of swing away at things and I was driving the ball wonderfully and I gave myself the opportunity to hole a lot of putts today."
Masters champion Sergio Garcia also moved up the leaderboard with a six-under 64 that put him at eight-under, four shots back.
(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Pritha Sarkar/Greg Stutchbury)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
