George McNeill wins the Puerto Rico Open, Ryo Ishikawa runner-up
American George McNeill won the title of Puerto Rico Open with a two-stroke lead over Japanese Ryo Ishikawa on Sunday, March 11.
McNeill, a 36-year-old professional, displayed an amazing performance and won the title by scoring a 16-under par and 272 strokes in total.
He played well throughout the tournament and fought hard for the title.
He carded 22 impressive birdies, an eagle, 41 pars and 8 bogeys in the four-day tournament, at the Trump International Golf Club, Rio Grande in Puerto Rico. His marvellous driving distance was 279.3 with accuracy of 64.3 as well.
Ishikawa also played and competed well against the leader. The 20-year-old young professional scored 14-under 274 and finished on the runner-up position.
He was unable to score an eagle, however 21 birdies and 44 pars took him at the second position on the leaderboard.
His average driving distance of 292.3 was far better than the American winner, but he lacked behind in accuracy by recording 53.6.
The scores on Sunday were entertaining, as till the end of the day, there was confusion between McNeill and Ishikawa’s leading position. Both were competing amazingly and gave tough times to each others.
However, McNeill birdied the last three holes of the tournament and won the first PGA glory of the year and second in total.
Similarly, he earned $630,000 and Ishikawa won $378,000 out of the total prize money.
"I was not aware that Ryo Ishikawa had the lead," McNeill said. “I knew that I needed to make a few birdies coming in, and that's the only thing I could really control”.
He explained, "After I birdied 16 and was walking up to the 17th green after I hit my second shot is when I saw that he had the lead with me. So I had about a 10-footer there, and I said: 'Well, I need to make it.' So it was not like it was an easy cake
walk, but it was a nice way to win".
Ishikawa also played well in the final round and made three birdies on the last four holes. He finished two strokes behind the leader and also recorded his best finish of the year.
"I made three birdies in the last four holes, and it was great for me to be very close to the winning experience," Ishikawa said.
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