Less than a year ago, Harrison Frazar decided he was done with golf.
A few months shy of his 40th birthday, the Texas native, who had missed five straight cuts on the PGA Tour, had planned out his final tournaments before retiring.
Then — out of nowhere — Frazar pulled off a stunning win at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, his first victory in 14 years since his first PGA event.
The win earned him a two-year exemption on tour and a spot in last week’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions on Maui.
So far, he’s taken advantage of his newfound life as a professional, earning his second consecutive top-five finish after shooting a 3-under 67 in Sunday’s final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
He finished in a four-way tie for second, two shots back of champion Johnson Wagner.
"Obviously, you’re always happy if you get two top fives to start the year," he said. "I don’t really know how to explain it. I’m just playing golf."
Even with the victory a year ago in Tennessee, Frazar has more top-five finishes in seven days than he had in the previous four years.
He was one of only four golfers to shoot 68 or better in all four rounds at Waialae Country Club, ending with a bogey-free 67 that included birdies on Nos. 5, 9 and 10.
It was much cleaner than his Saturday round of 67, which featured six birdies and three bogeys.
"I thought I played beautifully tee to green but really left a bunch (of shots) out there," Frazar said. "I hit some bad putts and some good putts that I didn’t read properly, but for the most part they were poor putts."
After a birdie on No. 9, Frazar saw the leaderboard and noticed 11 golfers within a shot of the lead.
He drove the greenside bunker on No. 10, but landed his second shot 13 inches from the cup for a birdie to earn a share of the lead.
"My caddie and I kind of laughed and we both said, ‘Hey, game on. This should make for great TV.’ "
Frazar had the winning score of 13 under on his mind as he played through the back nine, but couldn’t convert another birdie chance.
He missed a 9-footer for birdie on No. 15 and left a long birdie try on No. 17 just a few inches short of the hole.
He had an up-and-down opportunity on 18 to get to 12 under and post the lowest score of the tournament at that point, but pushed an 8-footer right.
"When I saw that 10 under, 11 under was right up towards the top, I thought that 13 under would be a good number," he said. "That’s what I was trying to get to; I just couldn’t get the putts to go in."
The second-place finish was his second at the Sony, after losing in a playoff to Ernie Els in 2004. Outside of that, he hadn’t finished in the top 30 and had missed five cuts in his previous nine trips around Waialae.
