Sepp Straka wins Truist Championship. Jeeno Thitikul takes Mizuho Americas Open
FLOURTOWN, Pa. (AP) — 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.
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.
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.
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.
LPGA Tour
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand turned back a pair of challenges and played bogey-free over the final 27 holes at Liberty National, closing with a 3-under 69 for a four-shot victory over Celine Boutier in the Mizuho Americas Open.
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.
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.
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.
PGA Tour
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — Ryan Fox of New Zealand chipped in from just outside 50 feet on the first playoff hole to win the Myrtle Beach Classic for his first PGA Tour title, sending him back to the PGA Championship.
Fox closed with a 5-under 66 that looked like it might not be enough when Mackenzie Hughes came to the 18th hole with a one-shot lead.
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.
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.
The 38-year-old Fox had won three times on the European tour, including the flagship BMW PGA Championship in 2023, and has climbed as high as No. 23 in the world. The PGA Championship was holding a spot in the field at Quail Hollow for the winner of the Myrtle Beach Classic.
European tour
ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) — Martin Couvra of France won his first European tour title when he rallied from four shots behind with a 7-under 64 for a two-shot victory in the Turkish Airlines Open.
Couvra opened with four birdies in six holes, and then seized control with four birdies in a five-hole stretch early on the back nine. He finished at 17-under 267 to finish two shots ahead of Jorge Campillo of Spain and Haotong Li of China, who both shot 67.
Li went out in 30, but he played even par on the back nine. It was the third time Li has been runner-up at the Turkish Airlines Open, back on the European tour schedule for the first time since 2019.
Couvra has five top 10s on the European tour in his rookie season and moved to No. 8 in the Race to Dubai standings.
Other tours
Lucas Herbert of Australia pulled away with a 7-under 64 for a five-shot victory over Younghan Song and Yuta Sugiura in the International Series Japan on the Asian Tour. Herbert now has titles on the PGA Tour, Asian Tour, European Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia ... Hyo Joo Kim closed with a 3-under 69 for a two-shot victory over Chiara Tamburlini in the Aramco Korea Championship on the Ladies European Tour. ... Clement Charmasson closed with a 2-under 69 for a one-shot victory over Victor Sidal Svendsen in the Challenge de Espana, his first title on the European Challenge Tour. ... Sophia Popov, the 2020 Women's British Open champion, won the Epson Tour's Carlisle Arizona Women's Golf Classic in 100-degree heat at the TPC Scottsdale. The 32-year-old German player closed with a 2-under 69 for a two-stroke victory. She finished at 14-under 270 on the Champions course. ... American John Marshall Butler won the Bupa Championship in Mexico City for his first PGA Tour Americas title. he closed with a 6-under 66 to finish at 19 under, a stroke ahead of Vicente Marzilio of Argentina. Marzilio also shot 66. ... Luis Carrera of Mexico won the FBC Zimbabwe Open with a 4-under 68 to win by four shots on the Sunshine Tour. ... Jiyai Shin of South Korea closed with a 1-over 73 and defeated Saiki Fujita (75) in a playoff to win the World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup on the Japan LPGA. ... Yewon Lee shot 2-under 69 for a two-shot victory in the NH Investment & Securities Ladies Championship, her second win this year on the Korea LPGA.
___
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