Emiliano Grillo Wins In His PGA Tour Debut
- Dan Hauser
- 19 Oct, 2015
Two weeks ago Emiliano Grillo sank a winding 25 foot putt on the 72nd hole of the Web.com Tour Championship. The putt, which ultimately won him the Tour Championship, locked up his playing card on the PGA Tour for the 2015-2016 season. At the time, you could say that putt was the biggest he had made in his career.
Fast forward two weeks and once again Grillo is facing a similar putt on the 72nd hole. This time, at stake was a PGA Tour win in his first event as a full fledged member. Like he did two weeks ago, Grillo buried the putt, taking the outright lead at 15-under. While Kevin Na got up and down on 18 to tie Grillo and force a playoff, Emiliano won on the second playoff hole to get the win in his maiden Tour start.
It was the second time in as many weeks that Grillo made a clutch putt to ultimately win a tournament. This, after Grillo missed a putt in Puerto Rico last year.
“Most important than the win was the putt on the last hole. Made me believe that I can hole putts on the last hole. You know, I did it then; did it twice today on the last hole basically. You know, makes you believe you can do it. That’s huge.”
Sunday’s putt easily passed the putt two weeks ago as the biggest of Grillo’s career. While the putt at the Web.com Tour Championship got Grillo his Tour card, his putt Sunday gave him a two year exemption, trips to Kapalua, the Masters, The PLAYERS Championship, and the PGA Championship. Plus, he moves into the top 50 in the OWGR, thus giving him exemptions into the World Golf Championship events and has all but locked up his spot in the Olympics.
“You say Masters, I can’t believe it,” said Grillo. “This is awesome. There is no words to put in to explain this. This is the greatest moment of my life golf-wise.”
After his miss in Puerto Rico, Grillo said he couldn’t sleep for a week. He almost found himself in a similar situation Sunday.
Grillo had a four foot putt for birdie on the first playoff hole to win it, but pulled it. Na made his par putt and it was on to the second playoff hole.
One the second playoff hole, Na made a risky play, going driver off the deck on his second shot. He didn’t hit it cleanly and that once again opened the door for Grillo who had yet another birdie putt to get the win. Unlike on the previous hole, Grillo drained it for the win.
“I can get used to this,” Grillo said. “Holding two trophies in three weeks, it’s great.”
For Na, he said he had no regrets with going driver off the deck in the playoff. He even went so far as to say that if he had to, he would do it all over again.
“Maybe I should have hit 3-wood,” Na said. “But if I were to go do it all over again, I probably would still hit driver.”
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About Dan Hauser
As an avid golfer and sports enthusiast, Dan has had a passion for sports starting at a very young age. Dan’s other passion has always been writing. Since the time he could write, he has always enjoyed sharing information with people and telling stories through writing. In middle school he combined his two loves by joining the school newspaper in the sports department.
