Strong finish puts a smile on Anirban Lahiri's face; 21-year-old Aaron Wise wins Dallas title

PTI

Dallas (US): An eagle and a couple of birdies helped Anirban Lahiri score four-under in his last three holes as he finished tied 26th at the AT&T Byron Nelson Championships.

Lahiri, who is working hard to find his form back, shot 4-under 67 and totalled 10-under 274 to finish T-26, which equaled his best in 2018.

Lahiri had a similar finish at Genesis Open in February, though his season best of T-5 came at the CJ Cup last October in the wrap-around season.

Lahiri carded 68, 67, 72 and 67 in the low-scoring event won by 21-year-old Aaron Wise (65), who achieved his breakthrough win with a record total of 23-under 265 and finished three clear of overnight co-leader, Marc Leishman.

At age 21, Wise becomes the second-youngest winner of the event.

A relieved Lahiri said, "I feel like I took a big step forward in the right direction this week. However, I still need to tighten up my game off the tee and with the putter of course."

He admitted, "I could definitely have been 8-10 shots better with 70% efficiency from 5-10 feet. That's the only factor coming in between my being in contention I feel."

Wearing a smile after a long time, he added, "It felt really good to finish strong. Haven't walked off the course with a smile in a while and that felt good today. It is time to build on this momentum going into next couple weeks. The courses - Colonial and Memorial - are both which I enjoy playing on, so I am looking forward to that."

With the final round starting four hours late because of weather, rookie Wise ran away from Leishman at the turn at the new Trinity Forest course. Thereafter it was more a question of whether play would finish before darkness set it over the tree-less Par-71 course.

Wise's effort of 23-under also broke the AT&T Byron Nelson's scoring record and the top two - Wise and Leishman - became the first duo to finish the AT&T Byron Nelson at 20 under or better.

The previous record set at TPC Four Seasons belonged to Rory Sabbatini at the par-70 layout at 19-under 261 in 2009.

Wise has previously won once each on the Web.Com Tour and Mackenzie Tour - PGA TOUR Canada.

Branden Grace matched his career-best 62 from last year's Open Championship and finished at 19 under with J.J. Spaun and Keith Mitchell, who had matching 63s.

Hometown star Jordan Spieth (67) finished at 11 under to tie for 21st.

With overnight softening the course, Wise had five birdies between fourth and ninth to turn in 5-under 31, which more or less settled the issue. He added a sixth birdie in seven holes as he birdied 10th, while playing partner, Leishman bogeyed it to fall five back.

Wise played his last eight holes with eight pars, while Leishman had two birdies and one bogey and the gap between them was three shots.

Adam Scott, who has not missed a Major since 2001, shot 65 to finish in a three-way tie for ninth at 15 under.

The finish saw him end 61st in World rankings and just outside Top-60, which would have got him into US Open next month. Scott will get another chance next week at Colonial, a place he's won at in 2014.