Austin Eckroat relaxed on Saturday night before the final round of the 2024 World Wide Technology Championship by playing video games at his hotel room. The new Call of Duty has been his latest obsession.
“That’s how I kind of take my mind off things,” he said. “You can’t think about anything else.”
Then he went out on Sunday and played video game. Eckroat reeled off nine birdies in his first 12 holes and shot 9-under 63 at El Cardonal at Diamante in Los Cabos, Mexico, to win by one stroke over Carson Young and Justin Lower and lift a trophy for the second time this season on the PGA Tour.
“Validation,” said Eckroat, who won the Cognizant Classic in March and became the seventh multi-time winner this season. “Winning twice is really special because it means you really can do it.”
Eckroat, a 25-year-old pro out of Oklahoma State, said he already had checked off the majority of his goals for this season with the exception of finishing in the top 30 and qualifying for the Tour Championship. He managed to make the top 50 to lock up his place in all of the signature events next season and had little to gain in terms of his Tour status. But unlike other pros who have been kicking back in the fall, Eckroat had the itch to keep playing.
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“I can’t practice with a long-term goal in mind,” he explained. “Or I can, but it’s tough for me, I need short-term goals. I’m not a guy who can go and take a ton of time off and start working on things for next season. I need more short-term goals than taking three months off. I love to play tournament golf, that’s why I do it.”
Cabo has been good to him before. At Oklahoma State, he won the Cabo Collegiate in 2019 just down the road at Querencia. This week, his score improved by a stroke each of the first three days, beginning with a 68, which left him a stroke off the 54-hole lead set by Lower and Nico Echavarria, who was bidding for his second straight win. Eckroat did his best Tiger Woods imitation in the final round, making birdies at the first two holes to tie for the lead before a bogey at the third of the Woods-designed layout. But the dropped shot was a mere roadblock as Eckroat ripped off birdie on the next three holes and four in a span of five holes to turn in 5-under 31.
Eckroat kept his foot down on the pedal, notching birdies at the first three holes of the back nine and a beautiful chip to 5 feet after one of his few hiccups of the day left him under a tree at the par-5 14th.
His lead widened to as many as four strokes and he closed with a birdie at 17 and a bogey at the last to shoot 24-under 264, earn a trip back to the Masters and claim his second win in 70 career Tour starts.
“That’s probably some of the best golf I’ve ever played,” he said. “I don’t, I was automatic, it was crazy.”
Young, who set the course record with 61 on Friday, needed an eagle at the last to force a playoff but missed a 25-foot putt on the right. He signed for 65 and recorded the best finish of his career, tying for second with Lower (65). Max Greyserman (65), who registered his fourth top-4 finish in his last six starts, finished alone in fourth.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Austin Eckroat torches Tiger’s track, shoots 63 to win for the second time this season at WWT Championship
