Palm Harbor, Fla. – No one can say Carl Pettersson stumbled into his first PGA Tour victory.
First came an incredible chip from a buried lie in the rough on the 15th hole that allowed him to save par and keep the lead. Then he faced a daunting tee shot on No. 16, the hardest hole at Innisbrook, with mangled rough on the left and water on the right.
That’s when Pettersson found out he was capable of winning the Chrysler Championship.
“I said: ‘Just step up and make a good swing. If it goes in the rough, it goes in the rough. If it goes in the water, it goes in the water. Buck up and hit a good one,”‘ he said.
The shot was perfect, and he had no trouble the rest of the way. He two-putted from 20 feet for par on the last hole, knocking the first one 3 feet past.
Pettersson closed with an even-par 71 for a one-shot victory over hard-charging Chad Campbell on a day when even some of the losers found reason to celebrate.
Campbell, who made five birdies on the back nine to make Pettersson sweat, shot 67 and earned enough money to jump from No. 43 to No. 17 on the money list and qualify for the Tour Championship.
“I’m not happy with second,” Campbell said. “But I’m happy the result got me in the Tour Championship.”
Charles Howell III and Tim Herron narrowly got in, too, with Herron needing help from two players – Tom Pernice Jr. making double bogey on the 17th, and Steve Lowery missing a birdie putt on the last hole.
Tag Ridings, whose knees shake this time of the year as he tries to keep his PGA Tour card, shot 67 to tie for third and moved from No. 125 to No. 101 on the money list, securing a job for next year.
Still, the biggest winner on a sunny, breezy afternoon was Pettersson, born in Sweden and raised in North Carolina, teased by his peers as the only Swedish redneck on the PGA Tour.
He finished at 9-under 275 and earned $954,000, fulfilling a dream he had as a kid of winning at the highest level.
“It was a little easier in the dreams,” Pettersson said. “It’s nice to finish it off the way I did.”
Tied with Lowery at the start of the final round, Pettersson seized control when Lowery hit four shots on the par-3 eighth before anyone else in his threesome took a swing – from the bunker over the green, halfway up the hill, 35 feet over the flag and a two-putt for triple bogey.
Even then, Pettersson showed some mettle by making a 30-foot par.
