Robby Shelton wins Nashville Golf Open, secures first PGA TOUR card

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Robby Shelton surrendered a three-stroke lead Sunday with four consecutive bogeys to start his round, but rallied late with a birdie at the last before winning in a playoff over Scottie Scheffler at the Nashville Golf Open Benefitting the Snedeker Foundation. He finished with a winning score of 15-under 273, just enough to sneak past Scheffler, who posted a final-round low, 8-under 64 to force an extra hole.

“It feels amazing. To finally get it done means so much to me,” said Shelton, who closed with a 1-under 71. “I’ve been grinding for two to three years now, and it just hasn’t all been there. This week, it was. It was like the junior days playing against Scottie. We probably played 10 times together coming down the stretch in junior golf. To bury that putt on the last was awesome.”

With the win, Shelton earned 500 Web.com Tour Points and moved up eight spots into second place in The 25 standings behind Xinjun Zhang. With the estimated total of 830 points needed to secure a PGA TOUR card, he is poised to play on the TOUR with 1,058 points through the first 10 events. Scheffler also likely secured a TOUR card by moving to No. 3 in the standings with 1,015 points.

“It’s been my dream since I was a little kid,” Shelton said. “I’ve been wanting it ever since I was 4 years old and had a golf club in my hand. It really hasn’t sunk in yet, honestly. It probably will on the ride home, but I don’t know, we’ll see. I’m super excited.”

Shelton began the day three clear of the field, but quickly relinquished the advantage after hitting his second shot into the water on both Nos. 1 and 3. He also failed to get up-and-down for par on No. 2 and three-putted the par-4 fourth. Scheffler, meanwhile, began the day seven shots behind Shelton, but vaulted into contention with a bogey-free 33 on the front.

On the back, Scheffler carded birdies on Nos. 11, 13 and 14, then chipped in for eagle on the par-5 15th. After another birdie at the 16th, he was suddenly four shots ahead of Shelton.

“I didn’t feel like I was hitting it that bad; it was just some wayward shots here and there,” Shelton said. “I knew I could grind and fight back, and I knew if I got it back to even-par I would be right there in the hunt. The pins were tough today. I didn’t think anybody was going to go crazy low. I know Scottie did, but that’s not what I thought. It was a sketchy round, for sure. I’m usually pretty steady. It was just very up and down.”

But Shelton was still on the comeback. He nearly aced No. 6, then chipped in for birdie on the ninth from the right side of the green. He added another 10-foot birdie at No. 12 and pulled within a shot with one more on the 14th.

“I definitely had to regroup,” he said. “I knew a bunch of guys were beating me after the fourth hole. But I just kept my composure. I knew if I just made a few more coming in that I’d be fine. Definitely the shot on 6, the par-3 down the hill, was the highlight. It just turned the round completely around, honestly.”

Scheffler then left the door open with a bogey at No. 17, and Shelton answered on the final hole when he stuck his approach shot from 72 yards to 2 feet.

“I had to go for it,” he said. “I needed a win. So I went for it. I got a little lucky, for sure. But it was a good shot, too. Just to put myself in that position is awesome.”

On the extra hole, Scheffler’s approach shot sailed over the green while Shelton stuck his to 9 feet. He ended the drama from there, securing his first career Web.com Tour victory and first win since the 2017 GolfBC Championship on the Mackenzie Tour—PGA TOUR Canada.

“I was just trying to get it up here inside 10 feet,” he said of the winning putt. “I knew my putting has been good all week. I’ve been relying on it a little bit, and I knew if I got it up there, it was a pretty easy putt. It was just left edge and I buried it.”

The comeback was even sweeter for Shelton considering his recent string of near-misses. He lost in a playoff to Lanto Griffin two weeks ago at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Championship before finishing T4 at last week’s Dormie Network Classic at Briggs Ranch.

“In (Alabama) I played great golf and (Griffin) played better golf,” he said. “To shoot those scores I did in Prattville and not win was kind of heartbreaking. Last week I built on it again, shot 20-under and played really good again. And then this week, just started off with an 8-under-par round, it gets the blood flowing. You know you’re in the groove. But I haven’t put three good weeks together in a long time. And that’s what you need out here, just consistency.”