Emiliano Grillo is celebrating a first PGA Tour victory in nearly eight years…
The 30-year-old Argentine professional golfer overcame a double bogey at the 72nd hole to shoot 2-under 68 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday and defeat Adam Schenk in a two-hole playoff at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Grillo curled in a 5-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole, the 186-yard 16th hole where he had taken the solo lead before needing a playoff Sunday.
Grillo and Schenk, who both finished at 8-under 272, had two-putt pars from 26 feet at No. 18 to start the playoff.
A 20-foot birdie at No. 16 in regulation had Grillo up by two strokes before his tee shot at No. 18.
“I’ve done it before. I’ve hit the exact same shot to the right of the tree,” he said. “When I saw one of the marshals walk right of the tree, I knew it was going to be a long wait until that ball stopped. … It stopped for like five, 10 seconds at one moment. I actually thought I got lucky. Then five seconds later, the ball kept moving.”
The ball finally came to rest against a rock in the middle of the flow about 150 yards downstream. Grillo took a penalty stroke with a drop where the ball had entered the canal, and had to set his ball on the concrete. His approach was short of the green, and he two-putted from about 20 feet for double bogey to drop to 8 under.
One bad swing all day,” he said.
It was the second PGA Tour win for Grillo, whose only other win was at the Frys.com Open in Napa in October 2015. He had four other top-10 finishes this season. He had a closing 2-under 68.
Along with a $1.566 million check, plaid jacket and fully restored 1973 Bronco vehicle, the win at Hogan’s Alley pretty much set Grillo up for all four majors. He now is set for the Masters and PGA Championship next year, and is in line for this year’s U.S. Open and British Open after moving from 80th to 42nd in World Golf Ranking.
