Austin Eckroat (-17) has won the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, his first victory on the PGA Tour, after closing with a two-under par for the eleven holes he had left to cover on Monday of the final round, thus signing a 67, a score that was more than enough (he finished with a three-stroke lead over his immediate pursuers, South African Erik Van Rooyen and Australian Min Woo Lee).
Eckroat, who just turned 25, was already someone before this triumph. He had jumped to the forefront of world golf last year, with a good bunch of excellent performances in his rookie season on the world’s most important circuit, among which stood out that second place in the Byron Nelson and that tenth position in the US Open, the first Major he played as a professional. Let’s repeat it, in case it hasn’t been clear enough: a top ten in the first Major he played as a professional (first and only, to date), a milestone within the reach of very few players. He had (has) something special to show the world and today he certainly confirmed it.
Today, without going any further, once the game was resumed on the Champion course of the PGA National Resort (Palm Beach Gardens, Florida), he kept creating one birdie opportunity after another. He only missed the second shot on the 14th and, subsequently, a fairly short putt to save par. The stumble took place at a bad time, just at the gates of the Bear Trap, a fearsome corner of the course that today was played with less stress (with hardly any people and, above all, with hardly any wind), but that always seems ready to demolish cards and expectations (Shane Lowry, for example, ruined his slim chances with a double bogey on this stretch). At a bad time, we said, and yet the young player from Oklahoma responded like an efficient champion, leaving himself three birdie options on the three holes that make up the Trap, 15, 16 and 17, and converting one of them, the 16th.
In short, Eckroat is also that player who signed 29 strokes for the first nine holes in a final round of the past US Open and, we insist, since then he has not played any Major, a circumstance that has certainly radically changed, as he will be in the Masters in a month and also in the PGA, in May. We will see if he is able to continue leaving his mark, one way or another.
