RBC Heritage updates: Branden Grace snares 1st PGA Tour win

Branden Grace blistered Harbour Town Golf Links’ front nine, barely blinked with the lead on the back, and captured his first PGA Tour victory in Sunday’s final round of the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing.

Grace shot a 5-under-par 66 to finish 9 under for the tournament, two better than Russell Knox and Luke Donald, who now has five top-three finishes but still no victories at Harbour Town.

Grace has won seven times on the European Tour and is ranked 14th in the Official World Golf Ranking. The South African finished seventh last season in his debut at Harbour Town, where countryman Ernie Els predicted a bright future for him, even before he slipped into the winner's tartan jacket Sunday.

"(W)e actually spoke on Wednesday," Grace said. "We went to his house for coffee, and he told me this is one event that I'm going to win a couple of times in my career. It's nice to hear that from a legend like that."

Donald, the 54-hole leader, started the day 7 under and ended that way, too. He made two birdies and two bogeys in a four-hole stretch — holes 7 through 10 — but never mounted a charge on the inward nine.

"I guess next year I've got to ... be three or four back heading into Sunday," Donald said falling short yet again at the Heritage. "That seems to be the sweet spot. I played okay today, I just had a couple of shots that just wouldn't quite go in.

"And I was expecting someone to play well, and it was a great round from Branden."

Playing two groups ahead of Donald, Grace whittled at the lead immediately, with birdies on each of his first two holes. He bogeyed the par-3 fourth hole, but rebounded with birdies on the next two holes and another on the short, par-4 ninth. That gave him the lead heading to Harbour Town’s back nine. Two more birdies got him to 10 under and gave him more than enough padding to withstand a bogey at the par-3 17th.

Donald needed a birdie-birdie finish to match Grace, but the Englishman managed just two more pars.

Grace was the second highest-ranked player in the Heritage field to No. 1 Jason Day, though he still sought his first victory in America. Two weeks after his first PGA Tour top 10 at last year's Heritage, he tied for ninth at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Match Play. He also entered the final round of last year’s U.S. Open in a four-way tie for the lead before a 1-over 71 dropped him into a tie for fourth, two shots behind champion Jordan Spieth.

Those performances gave him enough FedExCup points for special temporary membership on the PGA Tour.

Among other notables Sunday, Day, who shared the 36-hole lead, rebounded from a disastrous third-round 79 to shoot a 3-under 68. He tied for 23rd and will retain his top spot in the world ranking.

Byrson DeChambeau, making his professional debut this week, shot a 3-under 68 and tied Kevin Na for fourth. His first tournament paycheck is $259,600.

“(I)t’s been quite a journey so far these past couple of weeks,” said DeChambeau, who was the low amateur at last week’s Masters. “It’s an honor to be playing out here with these big boys, trying to do my best.”

Charley Hoffman, who let a 54-hole lead slip away at Harbour Town Golf Links in 2013, started the day one shot off the pace but closed with a 75 and tied for 14th. He was the 54-hole leader in 2013 but shot a 77 on the final day as Graeme McDowell won the Heritage.

Russell Knox shot a 67 and tied Donald for second. Jason Kokrak, playing in the final group with Donald, shot a 2-over 73 — with a double-bogey on the signature 18th hole at Harbour Town — and finished 4-under under, tied for sixth.

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This story was originally published April 17, 2016 at 6:34 AM with the headline "RBC Heritage updates: Branden Grace snares 1st PGA Tour win."