Carlson wins Prince Edward Island Open presented by IMP Solutions
Published
CARDIGAN, Prince Edward Island—A couple of late birdies lifted Brian Carlson to the top of the leaderboard Sunday at the Prince Edward Island Open presented by IMP Solutions. The former Purdue star shot a 65 in the final round en route to his first PGA TOUR Canada victory. He finished at 19-under, just ahead of Chris R. Wilson (18-under) and Austin Hitt (17-under).
“It feels incredible. It hasn’t sunk in yet. They always say that when you win, but it hasn’t fully yet,” said Carlson, while praising the other players on the Tour. “The level of competition is so freaking good. So, for a long time, I thought I was never going to win.”
Carlson, though, came through when it mattered most. He had eight birdies on the day. That included pivotal ones on the 16th and 17th holes to take the lead.
Wilson, meanwhile, had a three-stroke lead entering the round and shot a 69. It wasn’t enough, though, for the Canadian to prevail. He had five birdies but two bogeys. The latter included a pivotal loss of a stroke on No. 17.
“Losing by just a shot over four days, it’s such a small margin,” said Wilson. “You just go over your rounds and think about every shot here and there that could have been better.
“But at the end of the day I still played a solid round myself today, and I got beat,” he continued. “It’s not like I beat myself on the course. So, I think I’ll be able to sleep tonight knowing that.”
Canadian Myles Creighton and Americans Joe Highsmith and Trent Phillips tied for fourth, at 15-under. Americans Parker Gillam and Joey Vrzich were 14-under and tied for seventh.
Six golfers from the United States shared ninth-place with scores of 13-under. The group included Cooper Dossey, Parker Gilliam, Charles Huntzinger, Harrison Ott, Brad Reeves and Benjamin Shipp.
The win came in Carlson’s 24th career PGA TOUR Canada start. His previous-best came at the 2019 Canada Life Open in Vancouver when he tied for second. Last summer on the Forme Tour, in the United States, Carlson tied for third in a tournament on his college course, the Birck Boilermaker Golf Club. He played in all eight LOCALiQ Series events in 2020. It provided places to play during the global pandemic and essentially kept his game sharp.
“It has definitely given me my confidence back knowing that I can win, finally,” said Carlson. “This is my first event that’s more than one day as a pro getting a victory. It just gives you the belief that you’re good enough essentially to play professional golf.”
As the PEI Open champion, Carlson won $36,000 (Canadian) and picked up 500 Fortinet Cup points to take the overall lead in the season-long points chase, 12 points ahead of Wil Bateman. The three champions this season—Carlson, Bateman and Scott Stevens—are 1, 2, 3 in the standings, respectively.
The Tour takes a scheduled three-week break, with action resuming July 21-24 in Caledon, Ontario, for the Osprey Valley Open presented by Votorantim Cimentos CBM Aggregates. TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley is hosting the tournament, which will be played on its Heathlands course.