Taylor Pendrith wins Byron Nelson as Kohles falters. Koepka wins for 4th time on LIV
McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — Taylor Pendrith took advantage of Ben Kohles’ final-hole meltdown to win the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title.
Kohles overtook Pendrith with birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 for a one-shot lead, then bogeyed the 18th after hitting his second shot into greenside rough. His first chip didn’t reach the green. After having to chip twice from the rough and already looking stunned, Kohles missed a 6-foot putt that would have forced a playoff.
Pendrith two-putted for birdie on the 18th, holing a 3-footer for a 4-under 67 and 23-under 261 total at the TPC Craig Ranch. The 32-year-old Canadian won in his 74th career PGA Tour start.
Playing just north of his birthplace of Dallas, Kohles shot 66 to finish a stroke back.
Pendrith earned a trip to the PGA Championship in two weeks and the Masters next year. He also gets into the three remaining $20 million signature events.
LIV GOLF LEAGUE
SINGAPORE (AP) — Brooks Koepka became the first player to win four times on the LIV Golf circuit when he closed with a 3-under 68 in LIV Golf Singapore.
Koepka had four birdies and a bogey to finish at 15-under 198 for the three rounds, two ahead of Australians Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith. Leishman finished with a 66 and Smith a 64 at the Sentosa Golf Club.
Talor Gooch shot 67 and finished in fourth place, three strokes behind Koepka. Jon Rahm had a 67 and tied for 10th, the only player to finish in the top 10 in every LIV event this year. Rahm has yet to win since joining the Saudi-funded circuit in September.
Koepka was the seventh winner in seven LIV Golf events this season. He next tries to defend his title at the PGA Championship on May 16-19 at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky.
Ripper GC, led by Leishman and Smith, won the team title for the second straight week. They finished three shots ahead of Fireballs and Cleeks.
EUROPEAN TOUR
SHENZHEN, China (AP) — Adrian Otaegui overcame a five-shot deficit to win the China Open by closing with a 7-under 65 for the Spaniard’s fifth European tour title.
Otaegui had been trailing Sebastian Söderberg after Friday — the third round was canceled because of thunder and lightning — and he won by one shot over Guido Migliozzi of Italy, who had a 67.
Otaegui had seven birdies and finished at 18-under 198. The victory moved him to No. 3 in the tour’s Asian Swing and earned him a spot in the PGA Championship, along with Söderberg and Keita Nakajima.
Söderberg tied for third after starting Sunday with a bogey. The Swedish player holed four birdies but was undone by another bogey on the 15th hole and a double bogey. He closed with a 72.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) — Scott Dunlap was declared the 36-hole winner of the Insperity Invitational when rain washed the final round Sunday, giving Dunlap his first PGA Tour Champions title in nearly 10 years.
Devastating rain in the Houston area previously washed out the opening round Friday. Players managed to play 36 holes on Saturday, and Dunlap posted a 2-under 70 to take a one-shot lead over Joe Durant and Stuart Appleby.
That proved to be the winning score when rain soaked The Woodlands Country Club. It was the second 36-hole event in the last three weeks on the PGA Tour Champions because of weather. The 60-year-old Dunlap, who shot 65-70 on Saturday, last won in the 2014 Boeing Classic.
Steven Alker tied for fourth and regained the lead in the Charles Schwab Cup. Bernhard Langer, playing for the first time since surgery on his left Achilles tendon three months ago, had rounds of 69-74 and tied for 31st in his return.
OTHER TOURS
Lee Hyo Song became the youngest winner on the Japan LPGA when the 15-year-old amateur from South Korea closed with a 5-under 67 for a one-shot victory over Shuri Sakuma in the World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup, the first JLPGA major of the year. Song was seven shots behind going into the final round. … Madison Young had a birdie-eagle-birdie-eagle stretch to build a five-shot lead on the front nine, and she held on for a 1-under 71 to win the Casino Del Sol Golf Classic by one shot on the Epson Tour. … Ren Yonezawa captured his first Japan Golf Tour title when he birdied the final hole for a 5-under 65 for a one-shot victory over Naoyuki Kataoka in The Crowns. … Hongtaek Kim closed with a 2-under 69 and beat Chonlatit Chuenboonngam in a playoff to win the GS Caltex Maekyung Open on the Asian Tour. … Thomas Longbella won the Kia Open in Ecuador when the final round of the PGA Tour Americas event was washed out. … Peter Banker won the Barbados Legends with a 2-under 69 and a birdie on the first playoff hole to beat Scott Hend in Barbados on the European Legends Tour. … Ji Young Park closed with a 6-under 66 to win the Kyochon 1991 Ladies Open on the Korea LPGA.
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