England’s Nathan Kimsey has fallen just short of a maiden PGA Tour title after losing in a playoff to Vincent Norrman at the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky.
Kimsey, the 30-year-old European tour player, made his PGA Tour debut in this co-sanctioned event.
He was faultless on the last day of the tournament up until the playoff hole, hitting six birdies and an eagle to put pressure on fellow rookie Norrman, who made his onlu bogey of the day at the last hole.
He shot 62 and finished on 22 under par to force the playoff with Norrman, from Sweden, at Keene Trace.
Unfortunately for Kimsey, he bogeyed the playoff hole, and Norrman parred to secure his first PGA Tour title.
After the day’s play, Kimsey said he was pleased with his performance overall.
He said: “I feel like I barely missed a shot all day.
“Holed a few nice putts and just kind of did a really good job of executing kind of the whole back nine and keep pushing really.
“Yeah, like I can’t complain with anything I did today.”
Kimsey would have been the first player to win on his PGA Tour debut since 1988.
Norrman is the first player from Sweden to win on Tour since Henrik Stenson won the 2017 Wyndham Championship. His final-round 66 was his ninth straight under-par round on Tour.
“It’s been a crazy week and obviously today, the first nine was almost flawless.,” said Norrman. “How I finished the front nine I’m really proud of, then hung in there on the back. I’m happy to be sitting here.
“[Kimsey] flared his a little bit righ,” he said about the playoff. “We saw it was up in the rough, so just hit a bad shot in regulation there and we knew what to do. I hit a really good tee shot I thought. I had a pretty tough lie, downhill left to right usually comes out left on me and that kind of flared right. That was a pretty tricky chip as well and I just put a good strike on it and hit it up there close.”
French golfer Adrien Saddier and American Trevor Cone finished tied in third place on 21 under par. Making his PGA Tour debut, Frenchman Saddier earned a spot in the field at next week’s Barracuda Championship. He ranked first in Strokes Gained: Around the Green (+5.039). His lone professional win came at the Challenge Tour’s 2016 Fred Olsen Challenge de España.
England’s Daniel Brown finished T7 at 18-under.
