In his first year on the US PGA Tour, Aussie young gun Lucas Herbert is off to Augusta next April after pulling off a massive win with a million-dollar reward.
A $1.5m payday was just the start of the “unbelievable” rewards for Australian Lucas Herbert, with a ticket to the Masters also secured after a maiden US PGA Tour win in his first season.
The 25-year-old from Bendigo, who won the Irish Open on the European Tour earlier this year, is also set to break into the world top 50 for the first time en route to Augusta after defeating 2018 Masters winner Patrick Reed and New Zealand’s Danny Lee by a shot to secure the Bermuda Championship.
Herbert joined elite company too, becoming the first Aussie since Adam Scott in 2008 to win individual titles on both the European Tour and PGA Tour in the same year after battling gale-like winds at Port Royal Golf Course in his emotional victory.
“I mean, it’s pretty unbelievable,” Herbert said after winning at just his 19th start on the US PGA Tour, having started the final day four shots off the lead.
“Definitely gets me into the Masters? OK. I mean, the next 12 months are going to be really cool. I’ve never played Augusta, so being able to play the Masters is going to be pretty cool.
“I don’t even want to try to put expectations on anything right now.”
In windy conditions that had flagsticks bending out of shape, Herbert started the final day four shots back before nailing some crucial putts to take the lead on the 15th hole.
“I think growing up in Australia we had a lot of this kind of stuff. I played countless junior events where the wind was just brutal,” he said.
“I feel like, and especially playing on the European Tour now for two or three years, it gets pretty windy out there as well. I feel like it gives me an edge over when the conditions are perfect. I feel like that just suits the guys that are locals a bit more.”
The victory also secures Herbert, who earned his first PGA Tour card earlier this year through the secondary tour Korn Ferry finals, a two-year-playing exemption that gives him the security to plan his playing future.
“So I think the next few days we’ll sit back and think and celebrate and then, yeah, reset some plans going forward as to what our goals are going to be and how we want to play in some of these awesome tournaments that we’re going to get into,” he said.
“Getting to play in – we just talked about Kapalua, getting to play in a few of these events that I’ve watched growing up on TV, it’s just going to be a cool experience. No matter how I play, it’s just going to be phenomenal to play in those tournaments. It’s going to be lots of fun.”
Herbert mixed four birdies with two bogeys in his closing round to post a 15-under 72-hole total as unheralded American third-round leader Taylor Penrith crashed with a horror five-over 76.
Reed reeled off four birdies in the last six holes in a six-under 65 to share second spot with New Zealand‘s Danny Lee, who couldn’t manage better than even par in his final round.
“Just so hard out there today and I just, it was one of those ones you couldn’t even let yourself kind of get ahead and think that you’ve won the tournament early because conditions were just so brutal that you could have hit a shot anywhere at any time offline and it was just good to survive I guess is probably the way to describe it,” Herbert said after collecting the winner’s purse of $1.55m.
“It was probably more of a survival mode, just try and get yourself into position off the tee and in the fairway hopefully and in the middle of the greens and just, you know, try not to put too much pressure on the short game because, yeah, it was just obviously not easy out there.”
After securing his Masters berth, Herbert also has eyes on next year’s Presidents Cup team, having missed the chance when the tournament was played at Royal Melbourne in 2019.
“I want to think we’re going to be really competitive next year, but I don’t want to say anything that‘s going to provoke that US team because they’re also incredibly strong,” he said.
“I would love to be a part of it. I wish I had been a part of the one at Royal Melbourne, that would be amazing. I‘d love for it to go back to Royal Melbourne again to get a chance to play in front of our home crowd. Yeah, it’s exciting times and I would love to be a part of that team.”
Originally published as Rising Aussie star Lucas Herbert takes home million-dollar payday at Bermuda Championship
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