It was supposed to be hometown hero Jordan Spieth vs. Brooks Koepka on Sunday at the Byron Nelson.
Sergio Garcia might have been an afterthought but when the smoke cleared at the TPC Four Seasons, it was Garcia winning on the first hole of a playoff with Koepka.
In a stunning turn of events, Jordan Spieth struggled early and often, found only four fairways off the tee and shot 74. His play rubbed off on Koepka, who could have won with an even-par round but finished with a 71 and tied at 15-under with Garcia, who recorded a nice two-under par 68.
The end came quickly for Koepka. He hit first in the playoff and promptly pulled his tee shot into the water. Garcia launched a perfect drive in the fairway, made easy par while Koepka went through the motions and took six.
“It’s awesome to be there with Seve,” said Garcia, who recorded his ninth PGA Tour victory to tie the legendary Ballesteros for number of wins in America. “I played really well the last five holes. Other than that I was battling my swing,” said Garcia, who won the Nelson in 2004 and made his American debut at the event in 1999. “I played nicely this week. I know I can play better. My swing wasn’t all the way there — I fought hard.”
Garcia pointed out that the course played harder for everyone on Sunday.
Koepka found that out on the back nine. He led for most of the day and was never challenged by Spieth. Koepka lost his lead with back-to-back bogeys at 14 and 15. He fell back to 15-under while Garcia birdied 16 then finished with a pair of pars to post 15-under.
Koepka will look back and know that his failure to birdie the par five 16th cost him his shot at a second PGA Tour win.
“I didn’t have much the last 36 holes,” said Koepka, who battled errant shots all weekend only to be saved by his short game. “I didn’t know where it was going. It is disappointing.”
Even more disappointed was Spieth, who continues to struggle with his game. He will try and break out of his slump this coming week at Colonial.
