Emotional Chalmers breaks winless spell at Barracuda Championship

Greg Chalmers snapped the longest winless drought of any active player on the USPGA Tour by making an eagle on his closing hole to capture the Barracuda Championship.

The 42-year-old Aussie had gone 385 previous starts without a win, and as a bonus he earns a spot in the Open Championship later this month in Scotland.

An emotional Chalmers was relieved to get his first PGA Tour win in Reno, Nevada.

"In golf you always have to think that something good is around the corner," said the teary-eyed Chalmers.

His eagle on the 72nd hole sealed a six-point victory at the Montreux course and left the Sydney native with a good feeling. 

"I thought my game was getting close and today I got rewarded," he said. "Today was a battle, but the first three days it went really well for me."

It also got the cash registers ringing. Chalmers, who only needed a par or better on the final hole to win, collected one of the biggest paydays of his career at $576,000, which is about 20 times what he had made so far in 2016.

"I been out on the Web Tour and I only made about $25,000 so far," said Chalmers, who has two career wins on the Web Tour and five on the Tour of Australasia. 

Chalmers carded a score of four in the final round of the event which uses the Modified Stableford scoring system. His 43 total was a half dozen points ahead of runner-up Gary Woodland who wound up with a 37.

Heading to hole No. 18, Chalmers was sitting at 38 with Woodland done at 37. A bogey would have forced a playoff, but Chalmers knocked in a short eagle putt for five points.

Colt Knost came in third place at 35. Tim Herron had the best round of the day Sunday, 13, and jumped from 19th place to fourth.

Brendan Steele (12) and Steve Wheatcroft (five) tied for fifth at 32.

First-round leader Martin Laird of Scotland (three) and Ben Martin (minus-two) shared seventh place at 31.

Source: AFP