For nine holes Sunday at Wentworth, Chris Wood looked like the greatest golfer on the planet.
For his final nine holes, he looked like a frightened six-handicapper.
But when you add up 29-40, it comes to 69 and that was good enough to get Wood into the winner’s circle at the European PGA.
Wood basically won it on the front nine where he started his day by putting together four birdies and an eagle that gave him a six-under par 29. It vaulted him past all the contenders and put him four ahead of Sweden’s Rickard Karlbert, who finished earlier with a dazzling 65 and posted eight-under.
On the back nine, it was as though Wood crawled up into a ball and did his best to not lose. By the 16th hole, he was three-over on the back nine and and needed a pair of pars on the back-to-back par fives. He got them and earned his third victory on the European Tour.
He finished a shot clear of Karlberg and two better than Masters champion Danny Willett. Willett will look back at this one and know that he gave it away with horrendous play on Saturday and a pedestrian par round on Sunday.
