MINNESOTA (AFP) — Lee Hodges fired two eagles in a four-under-par 67 on Sunday to claim his first US PGA Tour title with a wire-to-wire, seven-stroke triumph in the 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota.
Hodges finished with a 24-under par total of 260 at TPC Twin Cities, where he’d pushed his lead to as many as seven and seen it shrink to three over playing partner J.T. Poston before Poston’s disastrous triple-bogey at the final hole.
That left Poston, who carded a two-under 69, tied for second with Kevin Streelman and Scotland’s Martin Laird. Streelman carded a 66 while Laird produced a seven-under-par 64 that featured five birdies and a 20-foot eagle at 18.
None of them ever really looked like catching Hodges, who started the day with a five-shot lead.
He pushed that to seven after a birdie at the second and an eagle at the sixth, where his 255-yard approach with a three-wood left him an 11-foot putt.
After a bogey at the ninth he eagled the par-five 12th in spectacular style, again using a three-wood and landing his 257-yard second shot within three feet.
“Those were two of the greatest shots I ever hit,” said Hodges, who has secured his berth in the FedEx Cup playoffs as well as an invitation to next year’s Masters.
