Daniel Berger – Photo Getty Images Harry How
Jason Day has continued his outstanding record at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with yet another top ten finish in the event which finished today.
For Day it was his 8th top ten in eleven starts in the iconic event on a layout as ‘American as Apple Pie’ and, although he was unable to stage a genuine challenge for the title in his final round, his improvement from missing the first two cuts of the year was marked.
Day tied for 7th and five shots behind the winner, Daniel Berger, who secured his fourth PGA Tour title with a 30 foot eagle putt at the last to defeat Maverick McNealey by two with another shot back to Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay who tied for 3rd.
Berger returned to 13th in the world ranking, equaling his previous highest standing in the game and improving from 15th after his missed cut in Phoenix last week.
Day was unable to build on the momentum he had created when making the turn in 2 under, a bogey at the 12th, after finding the greenside bunker, effectively eliminating any chance on improving on his previous best of runner-up in the event in 2018.
He would go onto birdie the 14th and 18th to finish at 12 under.
Cameron Davis continued his encouraging start to the 2020/2021 season with a 14th place finish after his final round of 68, Cameron Percy was 21st despite two late bogeys today, New Zealander Tim Wilkinson was 30th, Matt Jones 34th and John Senden 38th.
For Berger it was his 3rd top ten in his last four starts and and continues his rise in world golf from 123rd after this event 12 months ago until his current 13th place. It also continues Berger’s liking for the event, having finished 10th and 5th in his two previous outings.
Berger was still enthusing over the 3-wood to the last which set up the eagle and the two shot win.
“The 3-wood was, like I was saying earlier, one of the best 3-woods in my life. I’ve always struggled with finding a good 3-wood. It’s either good off the tee or good off the deck, but this one I’ve really been comfortable with for a long time.
“I just try to be aggressive. I wanted to win the golf tournament. I didn’t want to lose it on the last. I just wanted to go out there and try to hit the best shot that I could and I wasn’t going to be conservative on the 3-wood coming in.”
“Every time I’ve ever played the event I wonder why I don’t come back more often, and this year was, I knew I was going to play it. I set it on my schedule early. I didn’t commit until kind of late, but I knew I was going to be here.
“It’s just a special place. Every time you step up to the tee, you just, you tend to take in the sights and sounds and don’t really focus on the golf as much and I think that’s kind of helpful for me.
“When I hit that drive down the 18th hole I looked to the right and there was a leaderboard and I saw that Maverick McNealy had birdied the 18th hole and I know Nate Lashley was tied with me for awhile and I didn’t see his name.
“So I knew I was going to have to birdie it, but the putt was much trickier than I thought it was going to be, it was extremely fast, a little right-to-left and then a little right at the end. But I mean I would be lying if I said I wasn’t trying to 2-putt that. To see it go in was just an extra bonus.”
The PGA Tour now moves to Los Angeles for the Genesis Invitational at the Riviera Country Club where Adam Scott will defend his title.
