Golf: Aaron Rai finishes 5th, will play Play-offs alongside Akshay Bhatia

Greensboro (USA), Aug 4 (IANS) Defending champion Aaron Rai had a chance to finish runner-up, but a double bogey on the front nine and a bogey on the back nine ruined the chances, and he finished with a round of 2-under 68 that saw him finish Tied-fifth at the Wyndham Championship by six shots.

He shot rounds of 63-66-69-68 for a total of 14-under. His tied fifth place saw him in his FedExCup standings at 55th, and he will play the first Play-offs event at St. Jude’s.

Akshay Bhatia, who missed the cut, was 45th and will need to stay inside 50 after St. Jude’s to get into the second event, the BMW. Sahith Theegala, who also missed the cut and missed a lot of events due to injury, will not make the Play-offs.

Cameron Young finally got his first PGA TOUR victory on Sunday after seven runner-up finishes, and he made it look easy. He had five straight birdies early to build a nine-shot lead and coasted home to a 2-under 68 to win the Wyndham Championship by six shots.

He became the 1,000th player to win a recognised PGA TOUR event, dating back to Willie Park Jr. in the 1860 Open Championship. It must have felt like it took Young 165 years to win as many chances as he has had since his rookie season in 2022.

He followed those five straight birdies with nine straight pars; a pair of meaningless bogeys toward the end only cost him a chance at the tournament scoring record. He finished at 22-under 258, tying the record held by J.T. Poston (2019) and Henrik Stenson (2017).

Mac Meissner won the B-flight. He shot 66 to finish alone in second, worth $893,800 and enough to move him to No. 86 in the FedExCup. He won't be advancing to the postseason, but it gives him a huge boost for staying in the top 100 by November to keep his full card.

Auburn junior Jackson Koivun shot 67 and tied for fifth, getting him into the next PGA TOUR event in September. He has deferred his PGA TOUR card from the accelerated PGA TOUR University Accelerated Program until next year.

The Wyndham Championship is the final tournament of the FedExCup Regular Season that determines the top 70 in the FedExCup who advance to the lucrative postseason that starts next week.

--IANS

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