MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) – Justin Thomas won the FedEx St.Jude Invitational on Sunday to take the world’s top spot for the first time since June 2018.
Thomas faced protective champion Brooks Koepka in the final holes, sealing the World Golf Championship victory from 16 to 5. Thomas took the lead with his consecutive birdie moment, while Koepka missed the hole.
Koepka reached a 39-foot foot foot for birdie at number 17. But Koepka put his exit shot into the water along 18th Street on his way to the double bogey, allowing Thomas to finish a simple putt for what he finished for. A three-stroke victory.
Thomas closed with a 5-under 66 to finish in thirteen-under 267 and take the winner’s check for $10.5 million for his thirteenth PGA Tour title. At 27, he has become the third youngest player since 1960 to succeed in thirteen PGA Tour victories, only Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
It was the fifth time Thomas had reunited to win, and he made his biggest comeback after starting day four shots, third-round leader Brendon Todd. Thomas has three wins this season, two since the start of the year.
The last time Thomas No. 1 spent 4 weeks in the most sensible ranking. It will upgrade Jon Rahm, who has become No. 1 after winning the Memorial two weeks ago.
Koepka will go to TPC Harding Park in San Francisco to protect her PGA Championship title. He finished with a 69 and was tied for the time being with Phil Mickelson (67), Daniel Berger (65) and Tom Lewis (66).
Thomas had Jim “Bones” Mackay in his purse, playing in the same organization with Mickelson for the first time since Mickelson broke away from tactics with his much younger brother. Mackay is a vanquished replacement of Thomas’ same caddie, Jimmy Johnson.
LPGA TOWER
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) – Danielle Kang has played the normal golf logo she wins on challenging golf courses, completing a 2 under 70 at the Inverness Club and winning the LPGA Drive On Championship on the first occasion LPGA Tour in more than five months.
Kang and Céline Boutier of France turned the last hour into a formidable duel, and were tied when Kang controlled his solitary scarecrow on par five 13 with a thick, bad collar chip.
It was Boutier who blinked at the end. He missed a short putt on the 15th hole to leave a shot behind, then filled his technique four feet below the hole on the 18th. However, instead of a playoff series, Boutier made a makeshift hit on a complicated putt and the ball hit the left edge of the cup and walked away.
Kang, the fourth player in the women’s world rankings, won for the fourth time in her career. It is its first LPGA festival since January 23 in Florida. She did not go to Australia, then the PANdemic COVID-19 stopped playing Asian swing and then all summer.
Boutier, who won the Texas Women’s Open in his spare time, made an 8-foot putt birdie on the 14th to tie Kang up before he started sliding. Boutier closed with a 71.
Inverness hosted the exclusive event, and any of the contenders will probably return next summer when the legendary club organizes the Solheim Cup. The LPGA Tour will remain in Northeast Ohio next week for the Marathon Classic.
Kang finished at 7 209.
Minjee Lee of Australia fired 70-third, 3 shots behind.
BARRACUDA CHAMPIONSHIP
TRUCKEE, California (AP) – Richy Werenski hit a street flop on the 18th hole through a five-point eagle and made a birdie at the end for a one-point victory over Troy Merritt in the Barracuda Championship.
Werenski won for the first time on the PGA Tour, scoring thirteen numbers in the final circular at the Old Greenwood Race at Tahoe Mountain Club, the first after 21 years at Montreux Golf and Country Club. Former Georgia Tech player, 28, won the occasion three years after wasting Chris Stroud at the empty moment of the playoffs.
Werenski, the fifth consecutive winner for the first time in the changed score event in Stableford, secured a spot next week at the PGA Championship in San Francisco. He and Merritt, also at the box next week at TPC Harding Park, secured places at the U.S. Open in September at Winged Foot.
Werenski controlled a 15-foot footer on par four 18. He ended up with 39 problems, with players who got 8 problems for the albatross, for the eagle, two for the birdie, 0 for the pair, minus one for the bogey and minus 3 for the double bogey or worse.
Merritt failed to turn the 54-hole lead into a victory for the moment in a row. Last year in Montreux, Collin Morikawa joined to defeat Merritt. On Sunday, Merritt analyzed the last 10 holes, leaving a 30 by 18-foot court.
Matthias Schwab and Fabian Gomez were third with 37 points. Playing with a sponsor exemption, Schwab had to draw for two or more to earn a special transitority subscription on the tour.
CHAMPIONS DU PGA TOUR
GRAND BLANC, Mich. (AP) – Jim Furyk turned 50 when golf closed and was deserved when the PGA Tour champions returned, completing a four below 68 to win the Ally Challenge when Brett Quigley played his last two holes.
Furyk, the first player since Miguel Angel Jimenez in 2014 to win in his start on the circuit for more than 50 years.
His victory came here to a familiar place. Warwick Hills is one of his favorite stops on the PGA Tour when he hosted the Buick Open until a decade ago. Furyk won there in 2003 and runner-up twice more. It is his first win since RBC Heritage in 2015.
Furyk, a former US Open champion with 17 PGA Tour titles, is barely out competitively. He has played five times on the PGA Tour in the last two months, making three cups.
Quigley made a birdie in the 16th par 5 to tie the lead, only to catch the left lip in a 17th overall putt to give Furyk control. He fired a shot on the 18th for a 1 bass 71 and tied for a moment with two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, who finished with a 66.
Furyk finished with 14 under-202s and is now heading to San Francisco for the PGA Championship. He earned a place by remaining in the 100th most sensible in the world.
EUROPEAN TOUR
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) – Sam Horsfield the Hero Open for his first European touring title, defending himself against Thomas Detry at the Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel and Country Club.
Horsfield closed with a 4 bass for a total of 18 under 270. The 23-year-old Englishman made a birdie on the 17th hole to take the lead and finished with a pair.
Detry, from Belgium, fired a 66.
Alexander Bjork (69), Chris Paisley (70) and Oliver Farr (71) were third at age 14.
Miguel Angel Jimenez, the 56-year-old Spanish star who is making his 707th record on the European Circuit, fired a 72 to tie for the 34th with 7 bass.
TOUR DE KORN FERRY
OMAHA, Nab. (AP) – Seth Reeves outperformed an eight-stroke deficit to win the Pinnacle Bank Championship for his first Korn Ferry Tour title, winning an eagle and a birdie defeated in a one-shot victory over five players.
Reeves finished with a 7 64 to finish 11,273 at the club at Indian Creek. He arrived from 15 to 5 and made a birdie from 18 to 4, finishing more than two hours before the last group.
The 29-year-old former Georgia Tech player earned $108,000 and moved on from 18th place in the season’s trouble race for PGA Tour cards.
Third-round leader Ryan Ruffels made bogeys on 16 and 17 in a 73th to tie with Taylor Pendrith (66), Nick Voke (67), Carl Yuan (68) and Tyson Alexander (69). Pendrith of Canada finished fourth in a row in the three most sensible. He’s third in the standings.
OTHER TOURNAMENTS
Pierceson Coody won the 118th Western Amateur on Sunday at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Indiana, beating Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 2 and 1. Denmark. Coody, 20, grandson of 1971 Masters champion Charles Coody, is a Texas junior. He is the seventh Longhorn to win the George R. Thorne Trophy. Array.. Hae Ran Ryu effectively defended his Jeju Samdasoo Masters name on the Korean LPGA, completing with a 7-65 for a three-stroke victory over Jeongeun Lee6. Ryu finished at the age of 23 265 at saint Four Golf and Resort on Jeju Island.