Straka wins Truist Championship; Thitikul takes Mizuho Americas Open
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FLOURTOWN, Pa. — Sepp Straka seized the lead with a par on the 16th hole and shot 2-under 68, outdueling Shane Lowry on Sunday in the final round of the Truist Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club for his second victory of the season.
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Lowry missed the green on the par-3 16th and failed to convert a 6-foot par putt to fall one shot behind. He also missed a 22-foot birdie chance on the 17. Trailing by one shot, he gunned his 28-foot birdie putt some 8 feet by the hole and three-putted for bogey on the 18th for a 70.
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Straka rolled in his 3 1/2-foot par putt for a two-shot victory over Lowry and Justin Thomas (67). He finished at 16-under 264.
Straka joined Rory McIlroy (three victories) as the only other multiple winner this year on the PGA Tour. He also won The American Express in January.
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McIlroy shot 68 and tied for seventh in his tune-up event before the Masters champion goes to the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, a course where he has won four times.
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LPGA Tour
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Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand turned back a pair of challenges and played bogey-free over the final 27 holes at Liberty National in Jersey City, N.J., closing with a 3-under 69 for a four-shot victory over Celine Boutier in the Mizuho Americas Open.
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Thitikul, who captured the Race to CME Globe and its $4-million prize to end last season, won for the first time this year and the fifth time in her LPGA Tour career.
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Nelly Korda is still trying to win for the first time this year. She was within one shot of Thitikul until driving into the hazard on the par-4 ninth hole and taking bogey. It was a downward spiral from there, as Korda played the back nine with two bogeys and no birdies and was never a factor the rest of the way, closing with a 73.
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The final challenge came from Boutier, who was posed to catch the Thai player on the 15th hole until she three-putted from 10 feet and Thitikul made a sensational par save from the bunker. Boutier shot 72 and finished second.
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Fox closed with a 5-under 66 that looked like it might not be enough when Hamilton's Mackenzie Hughes came to the 18th hole with a one-shot lead.
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Hughes pulled his drive into the trees, had to pitch out and missed a 10-foot par putt for a 67 that put him in a playoff at 15-under 269 with Fox and Harry Higgs, who missed a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th with a chance to win for the first time. Higgs shot 68.
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Going back to the 18th for the playoff, Hughes and Higgs found the fairway and each had decent looks at birdie. Fox went from the rough to the collar right of the green. He raised both arms when the chip dropped for birdie. Higgs and Hughes missed their birdie putts.
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