Thomas Detry made a single bogey and seven birdies, including four consecutively from the 15th to close with a 65, reach 24-under and win the WM Phoenix Open by seven shots.
“Incredible. Incredible. I felt nervous yesterday morning, and last night didn’t sleep great. I woke up this morning early, 4:00 a.m., couldn’t fall back asleep,” said Detry.
“But then deep inside of me, I kind of really trusted myself. I felt like I’ve been doing a lot of really good things in the past to put myself in that position, and I felt like I was kind of ready to win. So deep inside, I was kind of — yeah, this one nobody was going to take it away from me.
“I hit the green in two on 13, which in my mind I thought was kind of a key, and I kind of maybe mentally relaxed a little bit too much there and didn’t pay enough attention on that putt, three-putted 13. Daniel Berger just birdied 12 and 13 and suddenly I was like, okay, I need to be careful here.
“Then I think what really turned it around was my up-and-down on 14 and that driver on 15, because 15 was playing downwind, so I knew that if I could commit to that drive and hit a proper drive, it was only an 8- or 7-iron into that par-5, which was big, and I was able to birdie that hole, and then after that obviously 16 — I was just trying to hit it to the middle of the green pretty much.
“I think the adrenaline kind of took over a little bit. I didn’t realize it was that close. I thought it was probably just a couple of feet away or maybe 10, 15 feet away or maybe just past it, just short, and when I got there, I was like, okay, this is looking good now.”
Detry had the largest margin of victory on Tour since Lee Hodges won the 2023 3M Open (seven shots). He set a new career-low 72-hole score (260) and 54-hole score (195) and moves to 1-for-2 in converting 54-hole lead/co-lead to victory.
This first PGA Tour victory came in his 68th start on Tour at the age of 32. Detry is the first player from Belgium to win on the Tour.
Americans Michael Kim and Daniel Berger both made a bogey and closed with 67s to tie for second place at 17-under. They played their way into the Aon Swing 5, qualifying for next week’s Genesis Invitational.
Playing in his second start on Tour since undergoing wrist surgery in August, American Jordan Spieth closed with a 68 and tied for fourth place at 16-under alongside South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout who carded a bogey-free 66.
