MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Hideki Matsuyama lost a five-shot lead in four holes and responded with birdies on two of the toughest holes on the course to salvage an even-par 70 and a two-shot victory Sunday in the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
The start of the PGA Tour’s postseason had tense moments at the top of the leaderboard and on the bubble to determine the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup who advanced.
Staked to a five-shot lead at the start of the day, Matsuyama went 27 straight holes without a bogey and led by five when he rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt on the 11th.
And then it all came undone — a three-putt bogey on the 12th, a tee shot into the water on the par-3 14th and a scramble for bogey, two chips to reach the 15th green for a double bogey.
Just like that, he was one shot behind hard-charging Viktor Hovland, the defending FedEx Cup champion.
Hovland, however, took bogey from the bunker on the 17th hole and missed a 9-foot birdie chance on the 18th for a 66. He tied for second with Xander Schauffele, who played bogey-free in the stifling heat for a 63.
Matsuyama got onto the front of the green at the 17th from the left rough and made a birdie putt from just over 25 feet to stay one ahead and added another birdie on 18.
Matsuyama, who finished at 17-under 263, won for the second time this year. He shot 62 in the final round to win the Genesis Invitational at Riviera. Coming off a bronze medal at the Olympic, his performance except for that awful four-hole stretch was golden. He won $3.6 million and moved from No. 8 to No. 3 in the FedEx Cup.
It was quite a week for the Japanese star, who had to find a fill-in caddie and could only work with his coach over the phone. All of them were out to dinner in London on their way home from the Paris Olympics when someone stole their bag when they weren’t looking.
LIV Golf League
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — Brooks Koepka picked up his second LIV Golf League victory of the year when he shot 7-under 63 at The Greenbrier and beat Jon Rahm with a par on the first playoff hole.
Rahm, who lost a four-shot lead on the back nine at the Olympics two weeks ago, started the third and final round with a two-shot lead and closed with a 65. He birdied two of his last three holes to match Koepka at 19-under 191 and force a playoff.
In the playoff at the par-3 18th, Rahm went over the green and into the bunker, a tough shot in which one one foot was in the sand. He blasted out to about 25 feet, and his par putt to extend the playoff caught the edge of the cup.
Koepka also won LIV Golf Singapore this year. He picked up his fifth career victory since the Saudi-funded league began in June 2022.
Koepka’s four-man squad, Smash, won the team title by three shots.
United States Golf Association
CHASKA, Minn. (AP) — Jose Luis Ballester, a senior-to-be at Arizona State, became the first player from Spain to win the U.S. Amateur, fending off Iowa sophomore Noah Kent 2 up at Hazeltine in the 36-hole match on his 21st birthday.
Ballester, who was the only player in the top 10 of the world amateur ranking to reach the round of 16, took the lead on the second hole and never trailed. He joined Jon Rahm as the only players from Spain to win a USGA tournament. Rahm, who also played for the Sun Devils, won the U.S. Open in 2021.
Both finalists gained exemptions for the Masters and the U.S. Open next year, and Ballester also got a spot in the British Open.
Kent, from from Naples, Florida, entered the week as a long shot at No. 560 in the world amateur ranking.
LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour
IRVINE, Scotland (AP) — Lauren Coughlin pulled away with superb putting and shot 3-under 69 to win the Women’s Scottish Open on Sunday, her second LPGA title this summer, to secure a spot on the U.S. Solheim Cup team.
Coughlin, who won the CPKC Women’s Open in Canada three weeks ago, recovered from a pair of early bogeys to move ahead of Megan Khang on the front nine and Esther Henseleit of Germany on the back nine at Dundonald Links.
The 31-year-old American one-putted the final seven holes on a chilly day along the Ayrshire Coast. Coughlin finished at 15-under 273, four shots ahead of Henseleit (70). It was the second straight runner-up finish for Henseleit, coming off her Olympic silver medal in the Paris Games.
PGA Tour Champions
CALGARY, Alberta — Ken Tanigawa won the Rogers Charity Classic for his third career PGA Tour Champions victory, closing with a 6-under 64 to beat Richard Green by two shots.
Two strokes behind Green after matching the Canyon Meadows record with a career-best 61 on Saturday, the 56-year-old Tanigawa birdied the par-5 15th and 17th holes to pull away.
Tanigawa finished at 17-under 193. On Saturday, he made a hole-in-one in the 210-yard 16th with a 5-iron.
Green, who had a 62 on Saturday, bogeyed the par-3 14th and the par-4 17th in a 68. The 53-year-old Australian left-hander is winless on the 50-and-over tour.
Darren Clarke (65) and Jason Caron (67) tied for third at 14 under.
European Tour
PRAGUE (AP) — David Ravetto of France captured his first European Tour title when he closed with an 8-under 64 for a four-shot victory in the Czech Masters.
Ravetto started the final round one shot behind Jesper Svensson. He opened with three birdies in four holes at the PGA National Oaks Prague to set the tone for the day, and then made three more birdies before the turn.
Svensson was within one shot of Ravetto until a wild tee shot at the par-5 16th that led to double bogey. Ravetto made birdie, a three-shot swing that put him four shots in the clear with two to play.
Ravetto finished at 24-under 264. The victory moved him up 73 spots to No. 30 in the Race to Dubai. Svensson’s runner-up finish moved him to No. 3 as he closed in on a chance to get a PGA Tour card next year.
Korn Ferry Tour
JACKSON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Max McGreevy closed with a 3-under 69 and won the inaugural Magnit Championship for his second title this year on the Korn Ferry Tour.
McGreevy was tied with Will Chandler going into the final round at Metedeconk National. He picked up two early birdies to keep pace and played bogey-free the rest of the way.
Chandler was tied for the lead after a birdie on the par-3 fifth, but he hit a pair of bad drives that led to bogeys, had two more bogeys on the back nine and rallied with a pair of birdies when McGreevy already was too far ahead.
McGreevy closed with a 72 and tied for second with Ricky Castillo (67) and Tim Widing (69).
Other tours
Haruka Kawasaki shot a 2-under 70 to win the CAT Ladies by three shots over Ayaka Watanabe on the Japan LPGA. … Sohyun Bae closed with a 4-under 68 and made birdie on the third playoff hole to win The Heaven Masters on the Korea LPGA. … Pornanong Phatlum of Thailand won the Epson Tour’s Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic in Pendleton, Oregon. She closed with an 8-under 64 for a two-stroke victory, finishing at 21-under 195. … Christofer Blomstrand shot 7-under 65 for a one-shot victory in the Vierumaki Finnish Challenge, his first title on the Challenge Tour. Alexander Levy had a hole-in-one at the 17th and tied for second with Mikael Lindberg. … Canadian A.J. Ewart won the PGA Tour Americas’ Elk Ridge Saskatchewan Open. He closed with a 3-under 67 for a 17-under 263 total and a one-stroke victory. … Jean Hugo closed with a 2-under 70 for a one-shot victory in the Vodacom Origins of Golf-Highlate Gate Mpumalanga on the Sunshine Tour. … Keith Horne won his first Legends Tour title by closing with an 8-under 64 for a three-shot victory over Adilson da Silva in the Zambia Legends Championship.
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