Thomas Detry Finally Won A PGA Tour Event At WM Phoenix Open
Thomas Detry, one of the best golfers in the world to have never won a PGA Tour event, finally claimed victory at the WM Phoenix Open with a dazzling final round on Sunday.
For sports fans who were hoping for a dramatic ending leading into Super Bowl LIX, they were left disappointed as Detry, who entered the day leading by five shots, never allowed anyone to get closer than within three strokes.
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They say that the hardest one to win is your first, so many people thought Detry might struggle trying to close out his first career PGA Tour victory.
But it just never happened. Detry made birdie on the first hole of the day to stretch his lead to six. He made bogey on the second, but quickly bounced back with a second birdie on the third hole.
Thomas Detry, one of the best golfers in the world to have never won a PGA Tour event, finally claimed victory at the WM Phoenix Open.
(Aryanna Frank/Imagn Images)
Then, he just turned into "steady Eddie," making par on seven straight holes, forcing opponents to try and catch him, rather than falling back towards the pack.
Even when he made mistakes, he found a way to get himself out of trouble.
With the pressure at its highest, Detry made his best shot of the entire tournament. Stepping up to the daunting par-3 16th hole, with 20,000 people watching, Detry had just a three-shot lead over Daniel Berger.
Some professional golfers have called the 16th at the WM Phoenix Open the hardest hole in golf because of the incredible crowd. Hit a great shot, the people go nuts.
Hit a terrible shot, and the boos will rain down. There's nothing in professional golf quite like it.
Fortunately for Detry, he was on the right side of the crowd on Sunday afternoon.
With the pressure mounting, Detry hit the second-best shot at 16 for the entire weekend. Of course, it would have been tough for Detry to match what Emiliano Grillo did on Friday.
That stretched his lead back to five shots, right where he started the day, and essentially dashed the hopes of anyone thinking they could catch him. He ultimately finished the tournament at 24-under, beating the next-closest competitor by seven shots, and became the first player from Belgium to win a PGA Tour event.
And he finished the tournament in style – with four consecutive birdies.
Thomas Detry mostly plays on the DP World Tour, but this was the Belgian's 68th career PGA Tour tournament. Despite making the cut in nearly 80 percent of those tournaments, with two runners-up, five Top 5 finishes and nine Top 10s, he had never been able to turn in a victory.
Detry had one solo professional golf win in his career, but that came on the Challenge Tour over eight years ago, his first year as a pro golfer.
However, that changed in a big way at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. No one can call Thomas Detry the "best golfer in the world who's never actually won a PGA Tour tournament" anymore.