A final-green bomb from Brian Harman has denied world No.1 Dustin Johnson a fourth straight US PGA Tour title at the Wells Fargo Championship in North Carolina.
The gritty left-hander nailed a 28-foot birdie putt on the final green at Eagle Point Golf Club to break free of a tie with Johnson (67) and Pat Perez (68) to notch his second US Tour title. Harman had earlier birdied the 17th hole to tie the lead, shooting a closing 68 to reach 10-under.
Watch Harman’s winning putt here:
Making birdie at the 72nd hole to win.
It's tough to top this feeling. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/jhkCMpUSgV
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 7, 2017
Another of golf’s hottest players, Jon Rahm, finished alone in fourth at eight-under (71) after a last-ditch bid to eagle the final hole scuttled past the flag, sealing the title for Harman.
The 30-year-old Georgian’s only prior win on tour came three years ago at the low-key John Deere Classic. This victory – against the might of Johnson and co. – is in another echelon.
“It’s surreal,” Harman said. “I three-putted that 15th hole, knew it was going to be tough to birdie those last couple. But I stuck to my game plan and just did it; did the best I could.”
Returning from the injury that forced him to withdraw from the Masters at the 11th hour, Johnson was in touch with the lead for much of the week. He was the first to post nine-under, holing a 15-foot birdie putt in clutch style before Perez made a nifty up-and-down shortly afterwards to match his 279 tally.
Their efforts counted for nought, though, when Harman authored his thrilling finish.
The one-off move from this year’s US PGA Championship venue Quail Hollow to Eagle Point was not kind to the eight-strong Australian contingent. Brett Drewitt’s tie for 31st at two-under was the best Down Under effort – although Curtis Luck banked his first cheque as a pro with a tie for 52nd.
* Queenslander Cory Crawford won the first professional event of his career after a thrilling six-hole playoff against fellow Queenslander Brett Rankin at the SP Brewery Papua New Guinea Open.
Crawford checked in as clubhouse leader after 72 holes at 10-under par and faced an agonising wait for Rankin, who was also 10-under, in the group behind him. Rankin had the chance to seal victory in regulation but was only able to make par on the 18th, forcing a playoff for the second year in a row at Royal Port Moresby Golf Club.
The pair could not be separated through five playoff holes on the par-3 18th, both players making par at each attempt.
On their sixth trip, both Crawford and Rankin hit their tee shot about 40 feet from the flag, but Rankin took bogey, leaving Crawford to make par for his first victory on the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia.
“It definitely means a lot considering I’ve had a really rough couple of years out here, so it was good to get it all together in one week and obviously to get the win is fantastic,” said Crawford, who now has a full exemption on the PGA Tour of Australasia until the end of 2018.
The six extra holes on top of 72 already completed in regulation play took their toll on Crawford, who was relieved when the gruelling playoff finally ended.
“I haven’t won a lot of playoffs as an amateur but this was great. I mean, six holes, it’s tough. It’s taxing and obviously on top of 72 holes, it’s quite hot here as well,” said Crawford, who claimed $21,300 in prizemoney. “It was getting tough towards the end but it’s great to get the job done.”
From Papua New Guinea, the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia heads back to Australia for the TX Civil & Logistics WA PGA Championship from May 18-21 at Kalgoorlie Golf Course.
* Denmark toppled the Australian duo of Scott Hend and Sam Brazel in the final of the European Tour’s inaugural GolfSixes tournament in England.
Played as six-hole matches under the ‘greensomes’ format where both players tee off, pick one ball and play foursomes (alternate shot) thereafter, Thorbjorn Olesen and Lucas Bjerregaard ousted Hend and Brazel 3-1. Earlier, the Aussie duo had progressed through the pool stage at the Centurion Club then beaten Thailand and Scotland to reach the decider.
Australia birdied the third hole of the final to take a 1-0 edge before Olesen and Bjerregaard claim the final three holes.
It was a tournament with a difference. Played over two days rather than four and held as a pairs event in a unique format, players were also greeted to the tee with music and pyrotechnics. Children played on the course and numerous celebrities were also in attendance.
Here’s how the finalists arrived on the first tee:
Game on…. pic.twitter.com/o6wqLOrkCa
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 7, 2017
“It’s been an amazing week,” Bjerregaard said. “The fans have been great, it’s been great to see how many kids have been out here and hopefully some of them will want to get into golf after this.
“It’s been a fun couple of days. I would love to see more of this. Today got a little more serious, a little more down to business, but it’s been so much fun, I think the crowds enjoyed it as well.”
The vanquished Aussie duo left with mixed emotions.
“A tad disappointing but Denmark played well and putted the last few holes a little better than us and they deserved the win,” Hend said. “It’s a great week for everybody. The kids are fantastic. It’s great to see so many kids kicking around, sliding down the hills and having fun on the golf course. That’s what it’s all about.”
Brazel added: “It was awesome to be part of it. Centurion put a great event on. To the members, the guests, the fans, it’s been fantastic.”
* Teenaged Australian Ryan Ruffels has roared through a final-round 63 to give himself a chance to win his first professional tournament on the PGA Tour Latino in South America.
Ruffels, 19, shot a dynamic eight-under round to equal the course record at Guanacaste, and soar into the lead in the Essential Costa Rica Classic, worth a prize pool of $US175,000.
Unfortunately a storm sent the players from the course soon afterwards, leaving Ruffels to wait, holding a share of the lead with Jose Toledo of Guatemala at 16-under, with his pursuers having as many as three holes still to complete.
Play has been suspended for the day and will resume at 6.20am tomorrow, meaning that the Golf Australia rookie squad member will need to wait to see if he needs to complete a playoff, or collect the trophy.
The tournament has been shortened to 54 holes already because of storms earlier in the week.
“It was nice,” Ruffels told pgatour.com today. “I knew at the start of the day we were going to have at best, 54 holes, and I was a long way back, so I knew I had to make something happen a little bit.”
The Australian, who was born in America but more recently schooled in Melbourne, turned in 30 and came home in 33 on the par-71 course.
“That (front nine) helped me a bit, put me on the map. Then the back nine’s a little tougher nine. I got through a tougher stretch that I had. If you’d told me I’d shoot 63 that would have been nice.
“It’s definitely a gettable golf course. The greens are quite soft, and you can go out there and make a number. I knew guys had done that.”
Ruffels, the former world junior champion and Australian junior champion, made the cut on the US PGA Tour last week in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, holding the lead after the first round. He has been playing on the Latino Tour because the top-five on the moneylist earn automatic cards to play on the secondary Web.com Tour in America next season.
It has already been a huge few weeks for young Australians, with 23-year-old Cameron Smith winning his first US PGA tour event last week, and Victorian Brett Coletta qualifying to play on the Canadian Tour.
* Sei Young Kim held off Ariya Jutanugarn in the championship match of the Citibanamex Lorena Ochoa Match Play to pick up her sixth victory on the LPGA Tour and first of the 2017 season.
Kim and Jutanugarn squared off in the championship match but Kim never trailed en route to her 1-up win over Jutangarn.
Kim, knowing she needed to play well against Jutanugarn, was off to a quick by start winning the first three holes. The two matched each other shot for shot over the next six holes before Jutanugarn won the 10th hole to cut into Kim’s lead. Kim answered with a birdie on the 12th to once again take a 3-up. Jutanugarn would go on to birdie the 14th and 17th to sit just one back with one hole to play before both parred the final hole to preserve Kim’s 1-up lead.
Mi Jung Hur defeated Michelle Wie on the 22nd hole in the playoff for third place.
