Kevin Na Wins Shriners Hospitals For Children Open In Playoff And Shows Some Sauce While Doing So

Heading into Sunday’s final round of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open Kevin Na and Patrick Cantlay sat one and two, respectively, on the leaderboard with Na holding a two-shot advantage. As both were looking for their second wins at the Shriners, it was only fitting the two headed to a playoff to decide things.

It didn’t look like we’d get a playoff at all when the final group made the turn, however. Na held a four-shot lead but made an absolute mess of the 10th hole making a triple-bogey seven after some major trouble around the green. Cantlay made a bogey at the 10th as well, but things were on from that point forward.

A positive for Na was that his mistakes came with plenty of holes ahead of him, while Cantlay’s came at the Par 3 17th when holding a one-shot lead.

With Na making a bogey at the Par 5 16th the door was more than open to put his foot down on the 175-yard hole, but came up short of the green as his tee shot rolled into the water before he walked away with a bogey.

Na missed the green as well finding a greenside bunker and was staring down a 22-foot par putt to tie things up yet again, and this is when the momentum fell back to Na in a major way.

The drama at the 18th was in full-force. Na missed the green with his approach shot but his extremely elite short-game was shown off as he got up-and-down for par. Cantlay, on the other hand, had a 24-foot putt for the win and somehow the thing didn’t fall.

The shared pars meant the two would go back to the 18th tee for the first playoff hole and they both made things look easy. The duo both hit the fairway then followed that up by each hitting their approach shots to within 12-feet.

Cantlay stepped up and drained his birdie putt putting all the pressure on Na, but it sure as hell didn’t seem like he felt any pressure. He pulled out the now very-well known Na walk-in, but this one was different because if he misses he loses. He did not miss.

Talk about some sauce, he got in a full TWO STEPS before the putt dropped. It was an absolute no-doubter and after he pulled this move out it definitely felt like there was no way he couldn’t win.

Cantlay and Na went back to the 18th tee for the second playoff hole, but only this time things didn’t go as smooth.

Both found the fairway, but Cantlay left himself a 40-footer for birdie while Na barely found himself inside of that.

Cantlay gave his putt too much respect leaving it a good two-feet out of the gimme range. Na ran his downhill birdie putt past the hole and left himself about a five-footer for par. Cantlay didnt’ touch the hole with his par putt giving Na the chance for the win and he delivered.

What a scene with Na earning his fourth career PGA Tour win and first playoff victory. Heading into Sunday he was 0-for-3 in playoff appearances, so this one probably tasted just a bit sweeter for the 36-year-old.