PGA TOUR: Vegas rolls dice to win Canadian title by one

THREE birdies in his final three holes has catapulted Venezuela's Jhonattan Vegas to a one-stroke victory in the RBC Canadian Open.

The 29-year-old carded a final round eight-under-64 at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Ontario to set the clubhouse mark at 12 under 276, which no one could match down the stretch. Having started Sunday five shots out of the lead, the Venezuelan banked nine birdies in the round to leapfrog the likes of World No.2 Dustin Johnson and 54-hole leader Brandt Snedeker to claim his second PGA Tour title.

Jhonattan Vegas poses with the trophy after his come from behind Canadian Open win. PHOTO: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images.

"It's a great feeling. I mean, last week, I had a six-shot lead going into the weekend and lost by three. I was five back starting today and won by one," Vegas said.

"It's a crazy sport. You've just got to keep your head down and play hard at every shot."

FINAL LEADERBOARD

Johnson (69) needed an eagle on the 72nd hole to send the tournament into a playoff but could only muster up a birdie on the reachable par-5, leaving him on 11 under and tied for second alongside Spanish rookie Jon Rahm (67) and Scotland’s Martin Laird (67).

American Steve Wheatcroft, who stormed into contention with a third round 64, was two shots adrift of Vegas with two holes to play but he followed up a bogey at the 17th hole with another at the 18th, when he thinned a bunker shot across the green and into a lake.

American Steve Wheatcroft contemplates what might have been after blading his greenside bunker shot into a lake on the 18th hole and missing the chance of forcing a play-off with Vegas. PHOTO: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)

"I am surprised. We had Dustin Johnson, Brandt Snedeker, a bunch of guys, really close. Great players that I mean, I thought if I got lucky, it was going to be a playoff," said Vegas, who was tied fourth last week behind Aaron Baddeley after shooting a course record 60 in the second round.

"Super surprised when I saw that nobody got to 12. But that's the fortunate breaks that sometimes you need to be a champion on the PGA Tour."

Former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy was the best of the Australian contingent, producing his lowest PGA Tour score in more than seven years to surge into the top-10 on the final day.

Three birdies on the front nine were followed by an incredible closing run over the last six holes of birdie-par-birdie-par-eagle-par-eagle, for a nine under 63, which was enough to hold the clubhouse lead for nearly three hours before Vegas posted his winning score.

“It was a great finish,” Ogilvy said. “You don’t expect to eagle two of the last three holes but you do expect to birdie two of the last three holes. It’s a bonus to make threes on those holes, but it’s nice to get up the right end of the leaderboard for once.”

Geoff Ogilvy surged into the top-10 with a nine under par 63 closing round.
PHOTO: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images.

World No.1 Jason Day closed out his defence with a five under 67 to move up 14 places into a tie for 14^th at seven under.

The Queensland, who moves onto a another title defence this week at the PGA Championship, said he struggled with his putting at Glen Abbey after coming off much slower greens the week before at Royal Troon.

“I didn’t putt well this week,” he said. “I think it was a combination of last week rolling into this week where you’ve got 9.5 on the Stimp and you’re used to seeing one kind of line, and you come here and it’s anywhere 12 and 13 and the line changes.

“It was a good confidence builder going into next week … I feel good about my game.”