Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event Sunday, beating Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer with a par on the first hole of a playoff.
Trainer pushed a 6-foot par putt to the right of the cup to
end it, with Lowry and McIlroy sharing a smiling embrace on the green.
The 34-year-old McIlroy, playing in the event for the first
time, won his 25th PGA Tour title and first of the season. Lowry claimed his
third PGA Tour victory. The Irish tandem closed with a 4-under 68 in the
alternate-shot final round to match Ramey and Trainer at 25-under 263.
Ramey and Trainer began the day tied for 27th and shot to
the top of the leaderboard with nine birdies between the seventh and 18th
holes. They tied the alternate-shot tournament record of 63, but then had to
wait nearly three hours to see if their lead would stand up.
They struggled to execute on the playoff hole. Trainer
pulled his drive into the left rough, Ramey also yanked his approach left off
the cart path and into the wall below the suites around the 18th
green. Trainer then chipped short before Ramey finally got onto the green.
Ryan Brehm and Mark Hubbard missed the playoff by one shot
when Brehm’s birdie putt from the fringe narrowly missed to the right. Former
BYU teammates Patrick Fishburn and Zach Blair, the 54-hole leaders, were tied
for the lead until failing to birdie the par-5 16th and taking double bogey on
the par-3 17th.
LPGA TOUR
Hannah Green closed with a 5-under 66 and won the LPGA
Tour’s JM Eagle LA Championship for the second straight year, holing out twice
from off the greens in a pivotal back-nine stretch at Wilshire Country Club.
A year after making a 25-foot birdie on the final hole of
regulation and winning on the second hole of a playoff, Green took the drama
out of this one for her fifth LPGA Tour victory and second of the year.
Green began the key run with a chip-in birdie on the par-3
12th and made a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-5 13th.
Then, after Stark bogeyed the par-4 16th two groups ahead, Green ran
in a 25-footer for eagle from the fringe on 15 to open a four-stroke lead, and
she made it 5 under in five holes with a birdie on 16.
Stark birdied her last two holes for a 68. The 24-year-old
Swede also finished second last week outside Houston in The Chevron
Championship, two strokes behind top-ranked Nelly Korda in the first major of
the year.
Grace Kim, four strokes ahead entering the weekend, closed
76-77 without making a birdie the last two days. She tied for 25th.
LIV GOLF LEAGUE
Brendan Steele closed with a 4-under 68 to hold off Louis
Oosthuizen and win LIV Golf Adelaide by one shot at The Grange Golf Club.
The 41-year-old Steele finished with a 54-hole total of
18-under 198 for his first victory since he won his second Safeway Open in 2017
on the PGA Tour.
Steele had a streak of five consecutive birdies early in the
round, before some putting jitters appeared in his back nine to open the door
for a fast finishing pack of challenges including Oosthuizen (65) and former
previous Masters champions Charl Schwartzel (64) and Jon Rahm (64).
Schwartzel and Rahm were among a group of five players at
16-under 200, with Joaquin Niemann (66), Andy Ogletree (65) and Dean Burmester
(67) in a tie for third.
Defending champion Talor Gooch shot 70 and finished in a tie
for 26th at 10-under.
Australia-based Ripper won the team title on the second
playoff hole against South African-based Stingers.
EUROPEAN TOUR AND JAPAN GOLF TOUR
Yuto Katsuragawa began the back nine with five birdies in
seven holes that carried him to a 7-under 63 and a three-shot victory in the
ISPS Handa Championship, the third Japanese player this year to claim a
European tour title.
The tournament was co-sanctioned with the Japan Golf Tour.
Katsuragawa follows Rikuya Hoshino at the Commercial Qatar Masters and Keita
Nakajima in the Hero Indian Open for Japanese winners. A year ago, Ryo
Hisatsune won the French Open.
Katsuragawa started the final round three shots out of the
lead, but got into the mix when 54-hole leader Casey Jarvis and Yannik Paul
faltered on the front nine. The 25-year-old pulled away and won by three over
Sebastian Soderberg, who had a 67.
Jarvis closed with a 74 to tie for 18th. Paul,
who started one shot behind, shot 76. It was a missed opportunity for Paul, in
the mix for the second and final spot for Germany in the Olympics.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
Stephen Ames celebrated his 60th birthday with a
successful title defense in the Mitsubishi Electric Classic, closing with a
5-under 67 for his eighth PGA Tour Champions victory.
A stroke behind Paul Broadhurst after matching the
tournament record Saturday with a 64, Ames had two eagles in the final round.
He won by four strokes, finishing at 14-under 202 at TPC Sugarloaf for his
record third victory in the event.
Broadhurst, the 58-year-old Englishman coming off a victory
last week in the Invited Celebrity Classic, closed with a 72 to tie for second
with Doug Barron (69). K.J. Choi (70) and Steven Alker (71) were 9 under.
Ames became the first multiple winner this year on the tour,
also taking the Chubb Classic in February. He has six victories in his last 29
starts after winning twice in his first 175 — the first at TPC Sugarloaf in
2017 — on the 50-and-over tour.
KORN FERRY TOUR
Tim Widing of Sweden won for the second straight week on the
Korn Ferry Tour, closing with an 8-under 63 to cap off a week of low scoring
with a four-shot victory in the Veritex Bank Championship.
The week began with Frankie Capan III posting a 58 for the
third sub-60 round on the Korn Ferry Tour this year. It ended with Widing’s
worst score of the week a 65 on Saturday.
He finished at 31-under 253 to boost his position atop the
Korn Ferry Tour points list as he closes in on a PGA Tour card.
Myles Creighton of Canada closed with a 62 to finish second,
followed by Trent Phillips (65). Capan wound up seven shots behind in fourth
place. None of the Korn Ferry Tour players who broke 60 this year have gone on
to win.
OTHER TOURS
Juliana Hung of Taiwan closed with a 5-under 67 for a
nine-shot victory in the IOA Championship on the Epson Tour. … Rasmus
Neergaard-Peterson won his second Challenge Tour of the year, closing with a
5-under 67 for a one-shot victory over Wilco Nienaber in the UAE Challenge in
Abu Dhabi. … Manon De Roey of Belgium capped off a four-shot victory with an
even-par 72 in the Investec South African Women’s Open on the Ladies European
Tour. … Stuart MacDonald of Canada closed with a 1-under 71 for a two-shot
victory over Samuel Anderson in the Diners Club Peru Open on the Tour de
Americas. … Haruka Amamoto closed with a 6-under 66 for a two-shot victory in
the Panasonic Open on the Japan LPGA. … Jungmin Lee won the KLPGA Championship
by closing with a 6-under 66 for a four-shot victory on the Korea LPGA. AP
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