Brian Gay is not going to be confused with Bryson DeChambeau, but the 48-year-old – one of the shorter hitters on the PGA Tour – showed once again those lacking Bryson-like length can still compete by winning the Bermuda Championship over Wyndham Clark in a playoff.
The victory gave Gay five PGA Tour wins and his first since the 2013 Humana Challenge, which he also won in a playoff. Despite lacking the length off the tee of many of is PGA Tour brethren, Gay has carved out a successful 20-plus-year career with more than $US22 million in earnings.
Timely birdies at the 14th and 15th holes put Gay in position to grab a share of the lead after Clark bogeyed the par-3 16th. Then after an uncharacteristic three-putt bogey at the par-5 17th, Gay staked an iron shot at the last that once again deadlocked him with Clark. It was Gay’s ninth birdie of the day in a final-round 64.
Gay ranked 38th off the tee in distance but was T-5 in accuracy with his 9-degree TaylorMade SIM driver. His split set of Srixon irons served him particularly well in the final round, as he hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation. As it usually is with Gay, the putter was the great equaliser to his relative lack of power off the tee. Gay ranked eighth in putts per green in regulation for the week with his Scotty Cameron by Titleist TN2 putter, the TN2 standing for Tour Newport 2.
That putter also sank the final putt for a win for the everyman in the Bryson era.
What Brian Gay had in the bag at the Bermuda Championship:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TaylorMade SIM, 9 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade SIM, 14 degrees
Hybrid: Callaway Apex, 18 degrees
Irons (4-5): Srixon Z 545; (6-PW): Srixon Z 745
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 (50, 546, 60 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist TN2