Well-lubricated, enthusiastic and in possession of a front-row seat for some of the best golfers in the world, the golf fans of the 16th hole (and those who were just there for the party) are winners this week. Laird was left to re-tee in disgust, wondering how he'd frittered away a 54-hole lead and fallen woefully short at the most critical moments. Sinking with his ball to the bottom of the water hazard: his hopes of winning the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Instead of answering Koepka's pured tee shot, Laird instead was all nerves as he found the water with a penitent strike of his 3-wood. Thanks to his poor effort on the penultimate hole of the tournament, the Scotsman headed to the final hole a stroke behind the surging Koepka. He carded a bogey five on the short par four. Facing an inglorious eight-footer for par, Laird wasn't up to the task, and his ill-read effort fell below the bottom of the cup. He then left his birdie putt well, well short. If you read the previous slide, you'll see that Laird and Koepka were 15 under for the tournament through 16 holes of the final round, which is when the real competition began.Īfter a mess of a tee shot, Laird hit a substandard pitch to the front of the green. It certainly went right on Sunday as Koepka notched his first PGA Tour victory. "Everything seems to be going right," Koepka told David Feherty in an interview on CBS' telecast after he stepped off the final green. Looking like a seasoned PGA Tour winner, the native Floridian striped his tee shot, found the green in regulation and nearly holed his birdie putt en route to a closing par and a final-round 66. Thanks to a faltering Martin Laird, however, Koepka's four was good enough to head to the final hole with a one-stroke lead. As it was, he settled for par and looked to have missed a significant opportunity. He would have liked to have done less excavation work with the wedge to leave a more makeable birdie. Unfortunately, the 24-year-old stubbed a pitch from behind the 17th green, which just trickled onto the green. He had ridden the momentum of a Saturday 64 brilliantly to get to the spot.
Koepka was five under for his final round as he stood behind the green on the lip of a water hazard. Martin Laird and Brooks Koepka were 15 under for the tournament through 16 holes of the final round, which is when the real drama of the Waste Management Phoenix Open began.
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