Kevin Kisner finally broke his playoff drought to win the Wyndham Championship. He hopes the victory will help him achieve another milestone: representing the United States in the Ryder Cup.
Kisner struck his approach to 3 feet on the 18th hole at Sedgefield and made the putt to win a record-tying six-man playoff on Sunday.
The 37-year-old Kisner, an excellent putter who now has four PGA Tour wins, has never qualified or been selected to represent the U.S. in the biennial matches against Europe. American captain Steve Stricker will make six picks after the Tour Championship, and Kisner says he has at least put himself in the mix.
“Who knows, man?” Kisner said. “I’ve never been picked before, so I’m not going to go out there and jump on a limb and say that I’m going to get picked this year.
In the playoff, he bested Adam Scott, Roger Sloan, Kevin Na, Si Woo Kim and Branden Grace after all had made pars on the first additional hole.
“To be standing here is pretty sweet,” said Kisner, who had been 0-5 in playoffs.
With Scott looking at a 4-footer for birdie on the first extra hole, Kisner thought he would have to hole a pitch from short of the 18th green just to stay in the playoff, and he nearly did it. Kisner grimaced as his ball settled just right of the cup.
But Scott’s short putt missed badly and all six players went back to the 18th tee. This time, only Kisner stuffed his approach close on the 505-yard closing hole.
Kim shot 64 in the final round. Scott had a 65, while Grace, Na and Sloan each closed with 66.
It was the third six-man playoff on the PGA Tour and the first since Robert Allenby won at Riviera in 2001.
It didn’t look like a playoff would be necessary after Russell Henley, who led after the first three rounds, recovered from a slow start to reach 17 under after a birdie on the 10th hole. But Henley bogeyed three of the next four and came to the 72nd hole needing par to stay at 15 under.
But Henley missed a 6-footer to go 0-for-3 this season with the 54-hole lead. He was in front after three rounds at Las Vegas last October and at the U.S. Open in June.