ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Maverick McNealy was finally victorious in the final tournament of his fifth year on the PGA Tour, hitting a 6-iron to 5 feet for birdie on the 18th hole at Sea Island for a 2-under 68 and a one-shot victory one in RSM Classic.
He picked the perfect time to finish nine holes without a birdie, as many others did to create a four-way tie for the lead.
The victory came in his 134th professional start, and sends him to Maui to start the year at The Sentry and the Masters in April for the first time.
Daniel Berger missed a 20-foot birdie attempt on the 18th before McNealy won. He is tied for second with Nico Echavarria and Florida State sophomore Luke Clanton, both of whom missed par putts to within 8 feet on the final hole that created a four-way tie.
Berger earned a small consolation prize, moving into the top 125 to secure a full PGA Tour card for 2025 when the fields will be smaller and only the top 100 will retain cards.
Henrik Norlander, who was No. 126 in the FedEx Cup last year, had a 63-68 weekend and joined Berger as two players to break into the top 125.
For Joel Dahmen, it was a matter of staying there.
He was at No. 124 coming into the final round, he had to make a 5-foot par putt to make the count and deliver a green-to-green clinic — and hole a 113-yard sand wedge. eagle at the start of his round — the 64th. It was enough to stay at number 124 with nine points.
“Two of the most stressful times in my career that I’ve shown, and I can’t move forward,” said Dahmen.
Clanton succeeded in joining Nick Dunlap as the first-time winners on the PGA Tour this year. Clanton, who took over as the world’s top-ranked rookie, now has two and one top-10 finish in seven PGA Tour starts over the past five months.
He looked like a winner, especially with McNealy sticking to neutral, as he birdied the 14th and 16th holes to tie for the lead. But he got close to the bunker on the 18th, blasted well to 7 feet and bent over in disbelief when he missed his par putt and had to settle for 66.
“It’s going to be tough to take, for sure, after that last performance,” Clanton said. “But I think it’s proven to me that I can win out here, so I’ll be training for that.”
Echavarria, who won in Japan a month ago, didn’t make a bogey all day until he went long on the 18th, holing 9 feet and catching the lip with his par putt.
Michael Thorbjornsen was poised to get into the top 125 until he pulled his way through the water on the par-5 15th hole and made bogey, closing with a three-par 69. He tied for eighth and finished at No. 129. has a full card next year from being No. 1 at PGA Tour University, but his status will not be high.
McNealy, the son of Sun Microsystems founder Scott McNealy, has been doing some of his best work outside of the wire, most notably making changes to the FedEx Cup’s point distribution to make it even.
A deficit became a victory, and this one came down to the wire. He went 33 and led by two going into the back nine, then it was a secret. He holed a par putt 15 feet from the fringe on the 11th to stay in the lead, and saved a par putt after going bunker-to-bunker on the 13th.
But he let the gun go with an errant drive on the 14th, and when Echavarria birdied the 15th ahead of him, McNealy took the lead for the first time all day. He answered at the right time, the 6 iron that covered the flag and landed at a distance of more than 5 meters.
The victory gets him into three $20 million events in the first two months of the year, and his first trip to the Masters.
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