Harry Hall of England chipped in for birdie on the third playoff hole and won the ISCO Championship on Sunday at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Ky.
Hall, 26, captured his first PGA Tour victory in dramatic fashion at the end of a five-man playoff. He went out with Matt NeSmith, Zac Blair, Pierceson Coody and the Philippines’ Rico Hoey after the quintet tied for first at 22-under-par 266.
The group played the par-4 18th hole twice, and Blair and Hoey bowed out after bogeying the first hole while their three competitors parred.
NeSmith missed birdie putts of 9 feet and 13 feet on the first two playoff holes, either of which would have secured him the title.
Hall, Coody and NeSmith went to the par-3 ninth hole, and each of them missed the green off the tee. But Hall, the first player to play, rolled his chip straight into the cup from 45 1/2 feet away. Neither Coody nor NeSmith could match that feat from shorter distances.
“It’s massive,” Hall, an expectant father, said on the Golf Channel broadcast. “Baby’s due next week so I can probably afford to take a week off now. Think it was a bit dicey there, just my position in the FedEx Cup, and I probably needed to play every single week. So I’m glad that I might not have to now. Yeah, super happy.”
Hall and Hoey trailed Coody by one shot after 54 holes, but NeSmith and Blair went out early Sunday and posted 8-under 64s to head to the clubhouse at 22 under.
Hoey had four birdies and no bogeys on his card when he reached the 18th hole alone at 23 under. But his second shot went over the green and came to rest against a decorative rock, forcing him to take a drop and a penalty stroke. He bogeyed to finish with a 69 and dropped into the group at 22 under.
In the final group, Hall hit his second shot at No. 18 over the green as well but was not in as bad a shape as Hoey’s ball was. He got up and down for a 9-foot par save to card a 69 and stay in the playoff, while playing partner Coody sank a 12-foot birdie to shoot 70 and make it a five-man party.
Coody is a PGA Tour rookie who led after each of the first three rounds this week.
The group of five finished two shots clear of South Korea’s S.Y. Noh (65 on Sunday), Englishmen Ben Taylor (65) and Sam Bairstow (70) and Neal Shipley (70).
–Field Level Media
