Page 20 - ARUBA TODAY
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A20 SPORTS
Monday 27 May 2019
Kevin Na cruises to 4-shot Colonial win with final-round 66
By SCHUYLER DIXON my head, I engraved my
AP Sports Writer name on it. I was just trying
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — to visualize success before I
Kevin Na always believed teed off.” Na opened with
he could win at Colonial, a two-shot lead and was in
so he paused to visualize his front by at least that many
name on the wall of cham- for the final 16 holes after
pions at the first tee before putting his second shot in-
making another run at it. side 5 feet for birdie at the
The South Korean-born par-4 second. Na finished
American will get to read 13 under after a bow-tying
his name on that wall next birdie at 18.
year. The win came after Na put
Na birdied four of the first himself in contention with a
eight holes and shot a 4-un- second-round 62, one off
der 66 for a four-shot victory the Colonial record. That
over Tony Finau on Sunday low round was a year after
on the cozy course made tying that course-record 61
famous by Ben Hogan, se- in the final round to finish
curing his third career PGA fourth. Na, who has made
Tour win and second in 10 10 cuts in 11 Colonial ap-
months. pearances since with-
“On the first tee, I saw that drawing in the first round
wall, looked at the names, of his debut in 2004, had
right below Justin Rose,” Kevin Na pumps his fist after winning in the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf three scores of 62 or bet-
Na said, referring to the de- tournament Sunday, May 26, 2019, in Fort Worth, Texas. ter in a span of six rounds.
fending champion. “And in Associated Press Then he added a pair of
solid scores that were more
than enough to keep any-
body from getting close.
“They say this is a golf
course that I’ve had the
most leads in a tourna-
ment,” said Na, who pulled
away despite opening
with a pedestrian par 70
in difficult conditions. “So
it tells you how much I like
this place and how well
I’ve played here.”
Local favorite Jordan Spi-
eth’s strong putting disap-
peared in a 2-over 72 as
the Dallas native finished
eight shots back to remain
without a victory since
his third major title at the
2017 British Open. Jim Fu-
ryk’s hopes faded when
the 2003 U.S. Open cham-
pion went in the water for
double bogey at the par-
3 13th on the way to a 73.
The 17-time tour winner’s
last title was at Hilton Head
in 2015. Finau briefly was
within a shot of Na early
in the round, and the first-
round leader was two back
when Na birdied 14 about
the same time Finau had
a bogey at 16 to push the
lead to four. Finau, looking
for his second career win
three years after his first,
closed with a 68.
“He wasn’t letting up, so I
knew I was going to have
to make three or four bird-
ies coming in,” Finau said.
“I gave myself the looks to
do it. Just wasn’t able to
make it happen.”q
