Kevin Na’s winning putter gets hot in the Vegas desert

Las Vegas resident Kevin Na is now a two-time winner in his hometown after a historic performance on the greens at TPC Summerlin

Las Vegas, Nevada: the gambling capital of the world that only recognizes one color, green. For Kevin Na, he should never want to see another color again after the show he put on around the greens at TPC Summerlin.

Na, a Korean native who now calls Las Vegas home, won the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on Sunday on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff over Patrick Cantlay thanks in large part to a hot putter. The 36-year-old made 558 feet of putts this week to set a new PGA Tour record and finished the tournament at 23-under par for his fourth career victory.

Na shot 62-61 on Friday and Saturday, respectively, to take a two-shot lead over Cantlay into Sunday’s final round. Despite a triple-bogey seven at the 10th, he still led playing the 16th hole. It was there, at the par-5, that Na hit his approach shot into the water and made bogey. Cantlay, in the same group as Na, birdied the hole, giving him his first lead of the round.

On the 17th, a par-3, it was Cantlay’s turn to put his tee shot into the water and make bogey, while Na saved par from a greenside bunker by, what else, holing a 22-foot putt. Now tied playing the last, Na missed the green and chipped to two feet for his par save, while Cantlay faced a 24-footer for birdie to win the tournament. The putt was solid but just stayed out to the right, missing the cup by inches and forcing the two players to head back to the 18th tee for the start of the sudden-death playoff.

Both found the green in two on the first extra hole, and this time Cantlay made his birdie putt. Needing his own birdie from 10 feet away to stay alive, Na walked it in like he knew it was good the moment he hit it.

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They went back to 18 for the second playoff hole and again found the green with their approach shots. Cantlay, though, three-putted for a costly bogey, allowing Na to tap in for par to earn the victory.

Na’s putter, a Toulon Madison, was the strength of his game this week. He gained 14 strokes over the rest of the field on the greens but actually lost strokes tee-to-green. He’s the first player to win a full-field PGA Tour event with a negative strokes gained: tee-to-green in the ShotLink era. At his winning press conference he admitted he’ll have to thank his putter later.

“I should’ve kissed it after I won. But I’ll give it a good kiss when I get back home,” he said after earning the trophy.

“I feel like I’m a pretty good putter. I’m a player, I feel like I get better as I get closer to the green. That’s my strength of the game. This week my putter got hot. It tends to do that sometimes, and when it does if I’m hitting it halfway decent I feel like I can win.”

Na won the Shriners Open in 2011 for his first career PGA Tour title. After that breakthrough victory, though, he went seven years and 158 events without winning another event. He became more well-known for his many waggles before hitting shots and for being a notoriously slow player.

At the same time he started making steps to correct that flaw, he began to win again. He snapped his winless drought in 2018 at the Greenbrier. He also won the Charles Schwab Challenge in May. After winning only once in his first 369 career events, Na now has three victories in his past 30 starts on tour.

Na was cheered on the entire way on Sunday by his biggest fan, his daughter Sophia. After his last victory, Sophia became a social media star as she celebrated with her dad. She was there again today, in the city the family calls home. And if Na continues on with that Toulon Madison in his bag, winning will start becoming a regular occurrence for them.