Holiday pay: Aussie Cam Davis works overtime to take RMC crown on fifth playoff hole

Detroit — Say this much: The 2021 Rocket Mortgage Classic wasn’t hurting for drama.

Right to the very end, in fact.

Hard-charging Cam Davis made par at the short par-15th to put an end to the PGA Tour’s second straight sudden-death playoff, and earning his first career victory on the PGA Tour. Troy Merritt missed a 6-footer, coming up short of his third victory.

It was the fifth playoff hole — in this union town, what’s a little overtime on a holiday? — a week after Harris English went eight to beat Kramer Hickok at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.

Joaquin Niemann, who hadn’t made a bogey through 72 holes of regulation, bogeyed the first playoff hole, the par-4 18th at Detroit Golf Club, to be eliminated.

Davis had a chance to end it after one hole, and each of the next three holes. But just missed on all four.

More: COMPLETE ROCKET MORTGAGE CLASSIC COVERAGE

The Australian put on a fireworks show down the stretch Sunday, holing out from a greenside bunker at the par-5 17th for eagle and then he birdied 18th to get into the eventual playoff.

The three men finished at 18 under par, the highest winning score in the tournament’s three-year history.

Bryson DeChambeau won last year at 23 under and Nate Lashley in 2019 at 25 under.

Davis, 26, shot a final-round 67, including a 31 on the back nine, to catch Niemann and Merritt, the 54-hole co-leaders who both shot 68.

Davis’ victory capped a wild week at Detroit Golf Club, where the biggest storylines mainly took place off the course — DeChambeau’s split with his longtime caddie, Phil Mickelson’s feud with the media — trumping the actual play, until shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday.

Alex Noren and Hank Lebioda tied for fourth at 17 under, and Bubba Watson and Brandon Hagy tied for sixth, another shot back.

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tpaul@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tonypaul1984