Grillo wins play-off for long-awaited second title

Fort Worth — Emiliano Grillo of Argentina survived a memorable double bogey on his 72nd hole and beat Adam Schenk on the second play-off hole to win the Charles Schwab Challenge on Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas.

Grillo captured his second career PGA Tour victory, which came seven years and seven months after his first, in October 2015.

“They say second is harder than the first, and it definitely was,” Grillo said.  “I’m on top of the world right now.”

After Grillo and Schenk replayed the par-four 18th hole and each made par, they headed to the par-three 16th at Colonial Country Club. Grillo’s tee shot rolled to inside five feet and Schenk flew his ball over the green.

Schenk made Grillo work for it when he played his second shot to a metre from the pin. But Grillo’s left-to-right birdie putt was never in doubt.

Grillo shot a final-round 68 and Schenk had a 72 for them to both wind up at eight-under 272, though Grillo owned a two-stroke lead when he hit his tee shot at No 18.

The shot flew far right and wound up in a stream of water in the centre of a footpath. According to the CBS broadcast, the water carried the ball about 100m back in the direction of the tee box before a small rock brought it to rest. Grillo took a penalty stroke and dropped his ball onto the path where the ball entered the stream. He reached the green in four and two-putted.

“Today I made a double on 18 and honestly I didn’t care,” Grillo said about his perspective. “Obviously, I would have liked to get it on the 72nd, but to close with some great swings, great swings there on 18, two great birdies on 16.”

Grillo had a busy front nine, making four birdies and two bogeys as he started to claw towards the top. He added birdies at No 12 and 16 — the latter on a putt of nearly 20 feet — to hit 10 under before his adventurous double bogey.

Schenk, who went 66-67-67 to start the tournament, posted three bogeys through his first 13 holes and landed his only birdie of the day at the par-three 16th. His shot there landed short and to the right but bounced onto the green, caught a slope and rolled to eight feet, where he made the birdie putt that got him into the play-off.

Harry Hall of England, who held at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds, birdied his first two holes of the day before carding five bogeys for a final-round 73. He was tied with Schenk and Grillo at eight-under stepping to the 18th tee, but his drive sailed left and into a water hazard.

The 25-year-old PGA Tour rookie bogeyed and settled for a tie for third at seven-under with world No 1 Scottie Scheffler, whose 67 featured the second hole-in-one of his PGA Tour career. At the par-three eighth hole, he took aim at the pin and watched his ball take a few hops and roll straight in.

“Just a three-quarter seven-iron,” Scheffler said. “Pretty much the exact same shot I hit there on Saturday. Tee box was a little further up, and there was a little bit more wind in our face, so it kind of set up nicely. That was definitely a lot of fun.”

Paul Haley II (final-round 67) placed fifth at six-under. Rickie Fowler also shot a 67 and tied for sixth at five-under with Michael Kim (67) and defending champion Sam Burns (68). Max Homa (69), Mark Hubbard (69) and Kevin Streelman (71) tied for ninth at four-under.

Field Level Media