Jason Day has captured his second win on tour this year, courtesy of a two-shot victory over Americans Nick Watney and Aaron Wise at The Wells Fargo Championship, played at Quail Hollow Golf Course, Charlotte, North Carolina.
Despite carding four bogeys in his final round (on a day when he admitted his game wasn’t his sharpest) Day kept his composure and birdied the first two holes of Quail Hollow’s “The Green Mile” en route to victory. One of those birdies came via the 231 yard par-3 17th, which played the hardest in the final round (with a scoring average of 3.573). The hole gave up only three birdies in the final round; one of those courtesy of Day, who very nearly scored an Ace—his tee shot striking the pin and settling a few feet away for what turned out to be a very makeable birdie putt. The birdie proved to come at a critical time in the round, as it gave him a two-shot buffer leading into the final hole, allowing him to play a (safe) iron off the tee on the very difficult 18th. Despite missing the green on 18, Day executed a tricky wedge shot from thick grass, followed by draining a slick putt to save his par and the victory.
Day led the field in ‘Strokes Gained: Around the Green’ and was 15 of 16 for Sand Saves. He also ranked second for ‘Strokes Gained: Putting (8.245)’ and needed only 101 putts for the week, with just 22 in the final round.
The win marks Day’s 12th PGA TOUR title in his 220th career TOUR start. It is Day’s second win of the PGA TOUR season (2018 Farmers Insurance Open), and he joins Justin Thomas, Patton Kizzire and Bubba Watson as the fourth multiple winner of the season. This is Day’s third multiple-win season on the PGA TOUR and first since 2016. Last year was the first season Day failed to win on TOUR since 2014.
It also moves Day closer to Greg Norman for the most wins by an Australian, with only Greg Norman (20 wins) and Adam Scott (13) ahead of Day’s 12.
With the win, Day is projected to move inside the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, he also earned 500 FedExCup points and moved to No. 2 in the standings, up 14 spots.
Other notables:
- Nick Watney finished T2 for his best showing on TOUR since the 2015 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
- For the 11th time in his career as a professional, Tiger Woods failed to record a birdie in a round (3-over 74). It was the first time since the final round of the 2014 World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship (at Doral).
- Phil Mickelson posted the most birdies of the day, 7 (tied with T.J. Vogel), to finish T5, his eighth top-five result at the Wells Fargo Championship, the most of any player. The Wells Fargo Championship remains one of eight PGA TOUR tournaments Mickelson has made 10 or more starts without a win.
Final-Round Leaderboard
Jason Day 69-67-67-69—272 (-12)
Aaron Wise 68-68-70-68—274 (-10)
Nick Watney 72-67-66-69—274 (-10)
Bryson DeChambeau 75-65-66-70—276 (-8)
Phil Mickelson 72-72-64-69—277 (-7) Paul Casey 69-68-69-71—277 (-7) Peter Uihlein 72-72-62-71—277 (-7)
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