Grillo Birdies 2nd Playoff Hole At Colonial After Blowing Lead

Emiliano Grillo made a 5-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole at Colonial to get his first PGA Tour victory in more than 7 1/2 years, after blowing a two-stroke lead with a double-bogey on the 72nd hole Sunday.

Grillo curled in the winning putt at the 186-yard 16th hole, the same hole where he had taken the solo lead before needing a playoff. Grillo and Adam Schenk, who both finished at 8-under 272, had two-putt pars from 26 feet at No. 18 to start the playoff.

It was the second PGA Tour win for Grillo, the 30-year-old from Argentina whose only other win was at the Frys.com Open in Napa in October 2015. He had four other top-10 finishes this season. He had a closing 68.

Schenk, the 31-year-old Indiana native in his 171st PGA Tour event, got his second runner-up finish of the season. He’s still seeking his first victory after a 72 playing in the final group Sunday.

At No. 16 in regulation, Grillo took the solo lead with a 20-foot birdie. His lead was two shots going to No. 18 before a wayward tee shot to the right. His ball went into a small concrete drainage canal, then floated 150 yards or so back toward the tee box before coming to rest against a rock in the middle of the water flow.

After taking a penalty stroke with a drop, and having to set his ball on the concrete near where the ball entered the canal, his approach was short of the green. He then two-putted from nearly 20 feet for double bogey to drop to 8 under.

While all that was playing out at No. 18, and Grillo waited to see what was going to happen to his ball, Schenk made an 8-foot birdie putt at No. 16. It was his only birdie of the round, getting him to 8 under before Grillo had even finished at 18.

Schenk made a par at No. 17 out of a greenside bunker before a closing par at No. 18.

PGA Tour rookie Harry Hall, in the final group with Schenk, bogeyed the final hole after his drive into the water to miss getting in the playoff. He finished tied for third at 7-under with local favorite Scott Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world who had a hole-in-one at the 189-yard 8th hole during his closing 67.

Paul Haley II shot 67 to finish fifth at 6-under 274.

Grillo had four birdies and two bogeys on his first seven holes Sunday, but caught up to the lead with a 17-foot birdie at the 435-yard 12th hole.

After starting the third round with eagle-birdie Saturday, Grillo finished with a double bogey and two bogeys over his last six holes to fall four strokes off the lead.

Hall, a 25-year-old Englishman, was the solo leader after the first and second round. Tied with Schenk to start the final round, Hall got started with consecutive birdies to drop to 12 under, but those were his only birdies in a closing 73.

Scheffler was the Colonial runner-up last year after losing to Sam Burns on the first playoff hole. When Scheffler’s tee shot at No. 8 took a couple of bounces and rolled into the cup, he was 7 under. But he was even the rest of the way, with a birdie at the 10th and bogey on the par-3 16th.

It was Scheffler’s second career ace. The first came in his PGA Tour debut as a 17-year-old at the 2014 Byron Nelson in his hometown of Dallas.

Harris English had a hole-in-one at No. 8 on Friday, when the hole was playing at 170 yards. Before that, no one had aced that hole since Jim Furyk in 2011.

English played with Hall in the final group during the third round, but had dropped out of a share of the lead when he bogeyed his final hole Saturday.

A four-time PGA Tour winner, English began Sunday with a birdie at the par-5 1st, but that was his only one. He was out of contention after four bogeys over six holes to finish his front nine, staring with three in a row on Nos. 4-6. He shot 76 and finished tied for 12th.

Burns shot a closing 68 to finish at 5-under 275, tied for sixth.

Michael Kim (67), who also tied for sixth, and Kurt Kitayama (68) had the only bogey-free rounds Sunday. Kim was one of only three players with two bogey-free rounds at Colonial.