Golfbet recap: Maverick McNealy birdies 72nd hole for breakthrough win at The RSM Classic
He did it. Maverick McNealy is a winner on the PGA TOUR.
It has been a long time coming for the 29-year-old Northern California native and Las Vegas resident. McNealy first played in the U.S. Open in 2014. He was the No. 1 ranked amateur in the world in 2016. A Stanford graduate, he lost to Daniel Berger at nearby Pebble Beach, by two shots in 2021. He then missed nearly half a season due to injury.
On Sunday in St. Simons Island, Georgia, McNealy beat Berger and two others by a shot to win The RSM Classic and capture is first-ever victory on TOUR with a winning score of 16-under.
The final event of the FedExCup Fall provided a great deal of drama on championship Sunday. Tied for the overnight lead, it appeared that McNealy’s hopes had been dashed with a costly bogey at No. 14 followed up by a par on the easy par-5 15th hole. Nico Echavarria and amateur Luke Clanton were both at 16-under and tied for the lead heading to the 18th hole. Both players bogeyed the final hole, and it looked like both McNealy and Berger would be involved in a four-person playoff.
At 15-under, Berger’s approach from 193 yards on the 72nd hole settled on the green, below the hole and roughly 20 feet from the pin.
Priced at +3500 pre-tournament, McNealy was last to play his approach shot into 18 green, paired with Berger and fellow 54-hole leader Vince Whaley. He hit the shot of the day, from 183 yards out to 5 feet from the cup. Berger’s possible tournament-winning birdie putt veered to the right of the hole by just a few inches. One of the best putters in the world, McNealy drained his birdie putt to capture the win.
Berger, Clanton and Echavarria all finished tied for second place.
The work on and around the greens has always been the strength of McNealy’s game. The ball-striking has not typically been his forte, ranking 125th on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Approach. Not the case this week at Sea Island, as he ranked sixth in the field for SG: Approach, was second in Greens in Regulation and 13th in SG: Off the Tee.
McNealy ranked 12th in SG: Putting and 15th in Scrambling.
Not all was lost for Berger, however. He came into the week at 127th in the FedExCup Fall standings. With the runner-up finish, he moves to 100th in the standings and is fully exempt on TOUR in 2025. Speaking of runner-up finishes, if you have been following along, that is the third straight week one of my selections for outright winner has finished second. Carson Young in Los Cabos, Andrew Novak last week in Bermuda, and now Berger.
Henrik Norlander was another player moving from the wrong side of the top-125 bubble, going from 126th to 120th with his tie for 17th place this week. After missing the cut, Zac Blair fell from 123rd in the standings to 126th.
SOURCE: [PGATour.com]
