ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Maverick McNealy guessed that in his thoughts he had made a putt to win a PGA Tour over a thousand instances. On Sunday, the 29-year-old stuffed a 6-iron from 183 yards on the par-4 18th gap at Sea Island’s Seaside Course to arrange a 5-foot, 5-inch putt for his first victory on the 2024 RSM Basic.
“It felt like déjà vu and it came off perfectly,” he stated.
His youthful brother, Scout, screamed in jubilation after the successful putt dropped: “We’re going to Maui, baby!”
That will be the positioning of the 2025 Sentry, the primary match of the brand new season in January that may be a reward for winners. Maverick replied, “Yeah, we’re going to Augusta, too.”
Certainly, McNealy’s maiden victory comes with an invite the Masters in April, too. McNealy had quite a few birdie alternatives down the stretch in the course of the ultimate spherical, however he made the one which counted probably the most.
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The birdie propelled McNealy to a final-round 2-under 68 and a 72-hole mixture of 16-under 266, topping Daniel Berger, Nico Echavarria and beginner Luke Clanton by a shot. Berger was within the ultimate group with McNealy and missed a 21-foot birdie try, however he moved contained in the FedEx Cup high 125 together with his runner-up end on the RSM. (Joel Dahmen closed with a bogey-free 64 to complete No. 124 and Sam Ryder, who missed the 36-hole lower, held on to No. 125 and the ultimate fully-exempt card for 2025.)
Each Echavarria and Clanton missed par putts on the ultimate gap to drop to fifteen below, ready to see what the ultimate two teams did down the stretch.
McNealy was the primary to succeed in 16 below within the ultimate spherical however he made a bogey at 14 and his trusty putter began to let him down. “I was definitely leaking oil, that’s for sure,” he stated.
Maverick McNealy and his caddie Scout McNealy pose with the trophy after successful The RSM Basic 2024 at Sea Island Resort in St Simons Island, Georgia. (Photograph by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Photos)
He credited his brother, who started caddying for him in August, with breaking the strain on the seventeenth inexperienced, making a joke that had him doubled over in laughter.
“Busting a gut, I didn’t think that was possible at the time,” McNealy stated.
Tied for the lead on the 18th gap, which performed because the statistically most troublesome gap of the day, he stated he instructed himself, “Let’s hit two great golf shots and I can have the best off-season of my life.”
McNealy was the Haskins Award winner as the highest male collegian and was the No. 1-ranked beginner when he turned professional out of Stanford. He made regular progress from the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA Tour however couldn’t recover from the hump for a win.
McNealy was sidelined for almost 5 months final 12 months after tearing the anterior sterno-clavicular ligament in his left shoulder in the course of the 2022 AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional Am. He modified his golf swing mechanics to verify he doesn’t put as a lot stress on the joint in his shoulder. This season, he happy his main medical exemption on the Farmers Insurance coverage Open in Feburary.
McNealy admitted that the RSM Basic hasn’t been match for his sport up to now however his spouse, Maya, satisfied him to play this week as a result of she enjoys staying at The Lodge, the resort on the Sea Island Resort.
“I think she loves that cookie and milk service at 7:00 p.m. She’s like, ‘We’re playing Sea Island.’ I’m like, ‘OK, we’re playing Sea Island,’ ” he stated.
McNealy opened with an 8-under 62 on the Seaside Course to take the lead, held on by means of the worst of the climate on Friday to shoot 2-under 70 on the Plantation Course. A 66 on Saturday gave him a share of the 54-hole lead.
Clanton, a senior at Florida State College, almost grew to become the second beginner to win on the Tour this season. The T-2 provides him one other level within the PGA Tour College Accelerated program, transferring him to 17. That’s three factors from incomes a PGA Tour card.
“It’s going to be a tough one to definitely take, for sure, after bogeying the last, but I think it’s proven to me that out here I can win, so I’ll be training for that,” he stated.
As a substitute, it was McNealy, who lastly proved he had what it takes to win on the PGA Tour.
