Davis Riley shot even-par 70 while playing in the final group Sunday with Scottie Scheffler, and still won a subdued Colonial by five strokes over the world’s No. 1 player and Keegan Bradley for his first individual victory on the PGA Tour.
Riley finished at 14-under 266. Bradley shot 67, and
Scheffler 71 on a day when he hit only seven of 14 fairways and didn’t have a
birdie until the 13th hole.
After beginning the final round with a four-stroke lead,
Riley gave up a stroke with a bogey on the second hole when he drove into the
right rough and then hit into the bunker. But that was the closest Scheffler —
or anybody else — would get with wind gusts of 20 mph and more blowing
throughout the day.
The 27-year-old Riley’s only other PGA Tour victory came
when he and Nick Hardy won the Zurich Classic team event in New Orleans last
year. The Mississippi native’s win at historic Colonial, which had been
completely restored since last year’s tournament, earned him $1,638,000, the
traditional winner’s plaid jacket and a fully restored and modernized 1975
Stingray car.
The final round was played on the same day that Grayson
Murray’s parents said their 30-year-old son took his own life Saturday, a day
after the two-time tour winner had cited illness when withdrawing from the
event with two holes left in his second round.
PGA OF AMERICA
Richard Bland had time off from LIV Golf and made it pay off
in a major way when he won the Senior PGA Championship in his senior major
debut, closing with an 8-under 63 for a three-shot victory at Harbor Shores.
In a final round delayed by about an hour because of storms,
Bland hit what amounted to the winning shot on the par-5 15th, an
approach to 6 feet for eagle. That took him from one shot behind Greg Chalmers
to a one-shot lead when Chalmers could only manage a par.
The storms finally arrived, and the 51-year-old Bland
returned to make three pars and claim his first victory since the 2021 British
Masters, the European tour title that unwittingly started Bland on this amazing
ride.
Bland did not realize until last year the Senior PGA
Championship offers a one-time exemption to players who have won on the
European tour in the last five years. He couldn’t play because the Senior PGA
was held the same week as LIV Golf Bedminster in New Jersey. But he asked about
this year, and the PGA of America provided the invitation.
Bland won by three shots over Richard Green, who shot 65.
EUROPEAN TOUR
Nacho Elvira of Spain parred his final seven holes to close
with an even-par 71 and hold on for a one-stroke victory at the Soudal Open in
Belgium.
Elvira won for the second time on the European tour.
The Spaniard started the final round with a four-shot lead
and was almost reeled in by Denmark’s Nicolas Norgaard, who missed a 12-foot
birdie chance on the 18th hole that would have forced a playoff.
Norgaard had to settle for a 68 and a tie for second place
with home favorite Thomas Pieters (66) and Romain Langasque, who birdied the
last for a 68.
Elvira’s other win came at the Cazoo Open in Wales in 2021
and he was in tears after securing the title at Rinkven International Golf
Club, where the final round had to be suspended midway through because of heavy
rain that flooded the greens.
KORN FERRY TOUR
Harry Higgs made it two playoff victories in a row on the
Korn Ferry Tour when he made eagle on the second extra hole to beat Frankie
Capan III in the Visit Knoxville Open.
The victory all but assured Higgs a return to the PGA Tour.
The top 35 players at the end of the season earn cards, and Higgs moved up to
No. 2 in the points list.
Higgs, who chipped in for eagle to force a playoff at the
AdventHealth Championship last week, this time had to settle for par on the
par-5 18th and a 5-under 65. Capan birdied the final hole for a 66
to force the playoff.
Both made birdie on the 18th, and then Higgs won
it with an eagle for another trophy.
OTHER TOURS
Ryosuke Kinoshita ended three years without a victory on the
Japan Golf Tour by closing with a 1-under 71 to win the Mizuno Open by two
shots. The victory sends Kinoshita to the British Open this summer, along with
Guntaek Koh and Yuto Katsuragawa. … Andreas Halvorsen won his first Challenge
Tour event when he closed with a 1-under 71 to completed a wire-to-wire victory
in the Danish Golf Challenge. … Morgane Metraux of Switzerland captured her
second Ladies European Tour title when she overcame a rough start to close with
a 1-over 72 for a three-shot victory in the Jabra Ladies Open at Evian Golf
Resort in France. … Kieran Vincent took advantage of an open week on LIV Golf
to close with a 6-under 66 for a four-shot victory in the KitKat Cash &
Carry Pro-Am on the Sunshine Tour. … Akie Iwai won the Resort Trust Ladies with
a 4-under 68 for a three-shot victory over Rio Takeda on the Japan LPGA. …
Sohyun Bae shot even-par 72 and won the E1 Charity Open by three shots on the
Korea LPGA.
AP
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