Brian Gay Wins Verizon Heritage
| Apr 19, 2009 | Comments 0
Former Gator Brian Gay (Florida, ’94) put on a record-setting show at the Verizon Heritage. And this time, he didn’t have to share the spotlight with anyone.
Gay shot a 7-under-par 64 Sunday to win at Harbour Town Golf Links at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, by an astounding 10 shots. He broke the 13-year-old scoring record, finishing at 20-under 264 on the way to his second PGA Tour victory.
“Just another unbelievable day,” Gay said.
There have been many more of them the last two years for Gay, who played for Florida from 1991-94. He won two SEC Individual Medals as a Gator (1992, ’94) and helped UF win four-straight SEC Titles (1991-94).
Finding pro success has been a struggle for the 37-year-old, who did not collect his first win until his 293rd start in February 2008 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico. Bad luck for Gay, that victory came the same weekend Tiger Woods’ finished off the field at the World Golf Championships’ Match Play event.
“Yeah, it’s a bit of validation,” Gay said.
And perhaps one of the PGA Tour’s more dominating performances.
He had the tour’s largest margin of victory since Phil Mickelson won the 2006 BellSouth Classic by 13 strokes.
Gay bested Loren Roberts’ mark of 19-under in winning the 1996 Verizon Heritage.
