Grayson Wood receives an early Christmas present.
The Georgia junior won the White Sands Bahamas men’s invitational at Ocean Club Golf Course on Tuesday. The event, an invitational featuring many of the world’s top amateurs, featured 36 holes of competition on Monday before an 18-hole finale on Tuesday, with Wood making four birdies over his final nine holes to take the title. He also overcame a double bogey on the first hole.
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“I tried to hit the hero shot on the first hole, and that’s not how you win a golf tournament,” Wood said. “But I persevered. I didn’t look at the scoreboard and let whatever happened happen. And it seemed like my time had come.”
With the victory, Wood earned an exemption into either the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open or the Myrtle Beach Classic, having a choice between the two events. Carson Bertagnole, a freshman at North Carolina who was one of four players to finish a shot behind Wood, earned the other bye after winning a 4-for-1 playoff series.
Wood finished at 8 under for the tournament and birdied two of his final three holes to move into solo first. Bertagnole, Tyler Kowack, Boston Bracken and Filip Jakubcik all finished one shot behind Wood.
In five starts this fall at Georgia, Wood’s best finish was T-14 at Hamptons Intercollegiate with three finishes of 45th or higher. Now, with his win in the Bahamas, perhaps it’s a stepping stone to more consistency in the spring, and he has a PGA Tour debut to look forward to.
This article was originally published on Golfweek: Grayson Wood wins White Sands Bahamas event to earn PGA Tour exemption
