Yun Wins By Two At Rolling Green Championship

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Category: Inside Golf

Published: 2021-09-06

SPRINGFIELD, Pennsylvania — Entering a long final day in a tie for fifth, trailing by four, Andrew Yun followed a third-round 66 with a bogey-free final round 65 to come away with the victory at the Forme Tour’s weather-delayed Rolling Green Championship Saturday. The 30-year-old played 34 holes on the final day, making 10 birdies and only one bogey to record his first career win on a PGA TOUR-sanctioned Tour.

At 15-under for the week at Rolling Green Golf Club, Yun finished two shots ahead of pairing partner Corey Shaun, who matched his final-round 65 to get runner-up honors only 14 days after his victory at The Forme Open at TPC River’s Bend.

Tying Yun for the lead after shooting 5-under through 12 holes in the final round, David Pastore slowed down with bogeys on Nos. 13 and 18 to shoot 67 and finish at 12-under. Pastore shared the third place with Germany’s Jeremy Paul, who had an impressive birdie-eagle-birdie finish to shoot 67 as well.

The leader by one at the start of the final-day marathon, Turk Pettit posted rounds of 72-67 to drop into solo fifth, at 11-under.

“It’s huge! It hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Yun of the victory that allowed him to charge into the third spot of the Forme Tour standings with only one tournament left to play this season. “I’m very fortunate and very glad to be in the winner’s circle. It’s been awhile since I’ve won anything really, and it’s my first PGA TOUR-sanctioned win. It’s not easy to win anywhere. There are a lot of good players on this Tour, so it feels really good to get one.”

Playing in the antepenultimate group in a day in which the players weren’t re-paired for the final round, Yun began his final round by birdieing three of the last five holes on the front nine, Nos. 5, 7 and 9. At that point he was in a close battle with Shaun, who shot 4-under on the front to trail him by one.

“It was hard to tell exactly where we were (on the leaderboard). But I was playing with Corey, and he was playing on fire. I was trying to keep up with him. I guess it was a good way to tell where we were, trying to stay ahead of him,” commented Yun of the race within his group.

With the back nine playing tougher Saturday afternoon, birdies were hard to find, and two of them proved enough for Yun to open some room at the top. With Shaun making a long birdie putt on 16 to move within one, Yun’s birdie at the par-5 17th ultimately made the difference.

“(Corey) got a little unlucky with where his second shot ended up (on 17). I made a great up and down there (for birdie) and another great up and down on 18, as well. Like I said, those putts were the big difference,” said the experienced Yun, a former PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour member, who is looking to make it back to the higher levels and went a long way toward doing so with his win.

Starting Wednesday, this coming week, the Forme Tour will land in Huntsville Golf Club outside Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, for the season-ending Forme Tour Championship, an event originally scheduled for The Ridge at Back Brook in Ringoes, New Jersey. The tournament moved to a new location in record time after the significant damage Hurricane Ida caused to the scheduled site—The Ridge at Back Brook—leaving the facility unable to host the tournament. The 72-hole tournament will be Wednesday through Friday, September 8-10, with a 36-hole finale on the last day.

Key Information

With today’s victory Andrew Yun climbed into the third spot of the Forme Tour Points List, only 157 points behind TrevorWerbylo, who managed to remain the Forme Tour No. 1 despite missing his second consecutive cut.

Points List Standings

Through Rolling Green Championship

As an amateur, Andrew Yun ascended to the No. 3 position in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He reached that point midway through 2013 while he was still playing for Stanford. He was a first-team All-American his junior year and a second-team selection his senior season. During his college career, he won the Pac-12 Conference individual championship in 2012, defeating, among others, UCLA’s Patrick Cantlay by five shots. Yun also won the 2010 Prestige by six strokes at an event played at PGA West’s Stadium Course.

Andrew Yun also represented the U.S. at the 2011 Palmer Cup played at The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Connecticut. In that tournament, Yun went undefeated, winning all four of his matches in the U.S.’s win over Europe.

Besides the tie for third by German’s Jeremy Paul, the only other international player to post a top-10 finish was Colombia’s Camilo Aguado. He parlayed four sub-70 rounds (67-67-68-69) into a solo-sixth performance. 

Recent Illinois graduate Michael Feagles had the top score of the final round, sharing that with Norman Xiong. They both posted 6-under 64s. Feagles moved up 24 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for eighth. He was the top PGA TOUR U finisher this week. Xiong continued his solid play of late, using his sponsor’s exemption this week for the top-10. He began the week 134th on the Points List and is currently 65th. 

Quotable

“It was a very long day. I had a great group. Corey Shaun, I was playing with him, and he was playing really well. He was pushing me along, too. It was a lot of fun.”—Andrew Yun

“I made a good 15-footer on five, and on seven, that par-5, I hit it over the green and hit a decent chip. I thought I missed the putt—I was early walking it—and somehow it stayed on its line and went in. I got lucky there. On nine here, it doesn’t matter where you are on the green. It’s a tough putt. I made a big, breaking 15-20-footer with 10 feet of break.”—Andrew Yun describing his three birdies on Nos. 5, 7 and 9 to close out the front nine

“We have one more tournament left. I think we were talking after the first round that things can change so quickly. But you can’t control that. You have to take it day by day, shot by shot. That will be the same thought process next week, as well.”—Andrew Yun thoughts on the race for the Forme Tour Points List

“It was a very long day of trying to stay energized. It was a really good day on the course—playing with Andrew (Yun)—pushing each other. We both made a lot of good shots and made some putts. At the end, he just beat me. He played awesome. It’s hard to complain. I played great. He played a little better.”—Corey Shaun

“I wasn’t really trying to make it, but it went in and all of a sudden I’m one back. Seventeen is a par-5 where anything could happen. I hit a great second shot into the green. I hit it a little bit long. It looked really good from where I was. But from where I was over the green, it was a very difficult up-and-down. Unfortunately, that was a par.”—Corey Shaun discussing his birdie on 16 and a critical par on 17

“I’m just trying to improve little by little every time, trying to find opportunities to showcase my improvements or what I’m capable of doing. I feel like I’m improving a little each time I play.”—Corey Shaun

“I was a little frustrated to finish like that at the end of the tournament, but all in all I played well and had a good week. I had four good rounds, really.”—David Pastore

“I got off to a really hot start this afternoon—4-under through seven. I hit a nice shot on nine and had a chance to get to 5(-under). I made a nice birdie on 12, which ended up getting me to 5(-under). I just stalled a little bit. There are a few tough holes coming in. I made one bogey, and on 17 that’s where I had the only shot I let get away. By that point, I needed two shots to get back to Andrew. He played a great round, honestly, and I would have needed to shoot 6-under to catch him.”—David Pastore

“I’ve moved into the top 25 comfortably. That was my first goal for this week, to get the first-stage exemption. The next goal is to get that top-10, and at least now I’m within striking range for that. I was (No.) 29 going into the week, so it’s something definitely really important to play for.”—David Pastore on his Points List position

Final-Day Weather

Sunny and clear, with a high of 79. Wind SW at 5-7 mph.

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