By Seattle Times staff
The Associated Press
C.T. Pan, right, with this wife and caddie Michelle Lin at the Wyndham Championship golf tournament on Aug. 19.
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Before the final hole of the Wyndham Championship on Aug. 19, it appeared C.T. Pan might earn his first victory on the PGA Tour.
The former Washington Husky briefly led and had 11 pars and six birdies through 17 holes of the final round at Sedgefield Country Club.
But Pan’s drive on No. 18 ended up out of bounds to the right and he made a double bogey.
Brandt Snedeker, playing in a group behind Pan, made a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole to win by three strokes.
Pan, a 26-year-old from Taiwan, shot a 4-under-par 66 to tie for second place with Webb Simpson (62).
Pan said he heard “a couple noises in my head which caused me to hit a bad shot. It’s my fault. I can learn something from it. I only played one bad hole, which is fine. You know, I’ve still got a lot of golf left.”
Snedeker (65), who shot an opening-round 59, finished at 21-under 259 for his ninth PGA Tour victory. He earned $1.08 million.
Pan matched the best finish of his career and made $528,000 in the regular-season finale.
“I love the feeling being in contention,” Pan said. “That’s what I’m working for, what I’m striving for. You know, obviously the nerves got me on the last tee shot, which is very unfortunate, but I think I can learn something from it.
“This is only my second year on the Tour. I’m still trying to learn from the best players out there.”
The top 125 in FedEx Cup points advance to the playoffs with The Northern Trust in Paramus, N.J.
Another former UW Husky, Nick Taylor (63) tied for eighth place in the Wyndham and thus advanced from No. 129 to No. 119 in FedEx Cup points.
Of making the playoffs, Taylor said he would “kind of soak it in and realize that we’ve finally done it. It’s really satisfying to finish it off.”
Ryan Moore (67) of Puyallup tied for sixth place at 16 under and is 55th in FedEx Cup points.
Other golfers with local ties who are in the top 125 in FedEx Cup points include Kyle Stanley (18th) of Gig Harbor, Andrew Putnam (35th) of University Place, ex-Husky Joel Dahmen (65th) and Kirkland homeowner Kevin Chappell (78th).
Severe weather led organizers to suspend the third round with 30 players still on the course and bring everybody back to Sedgefield on the morning of Aug. 19, leaving Snedeker with 29 holes to play on the final day.
Last summer, Snedeker was dealing with a rib injury that didn’t help his confidence.
“To be injured, to be away from the game for five and a half months, to not know what the recovery was going to look like, to not know if you’re going to be 100 percent again and still dealing with it to this day,” Snedeker said. “Still not 100 percent, but I’m way better than I was.”