The Scotsman

Stenson’s 64 breaks course record in first victory since last year’s Open

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Henrik Stenson birdied four of the last six holes as he won the Wyndham Championsh­ip by one shot with a closing round of 64.

That took him to 22 under for the tournament, breaking the course record which had been set by fellow Swede Carl Pettersson in 2008 and matched last year by Si Woo Kim. He finished one shot clear of Ollie Schniederj­ans, and four clear of Webb Simpson in third place.

It was Stenson’s first victory since the 2016 Open, and came in the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season.

Stenson carded two bogeys alongside four birdies to make the turn in 33, and found himself in a tie with Schniederj­ans after a birdie on the 13th.

But he enjoyed three straight birdies from the 15th to the 17th to edge clear, hanging on as Schniederj­ans birdied the 17th and 18th.

“I didn’t hear any roars on the 18th, I thought I had a twoshot cushion until I came down here and saw Ollie had birdied the 17th and 18th, so he pushed me all the way to the end,” said Stenson . “It was a tight race and on the back nine it was anyone’s tournament. Lucky for me I managed to put my foot down and make a couple of birdies coming home.”

Stenson, right, had begun the day with a one-shot lead over Schniederj­ans, Simpson and Kevin Na, but the latter two were unable to sustain the challenge.

Simpson had two bogeys in a round of 67, while Na’s 68 dropped him into a three-way tie for fourth alongside Ryan Armour and Rory Sabbatini.

Elsewhere, Scott Mccarron birdied the final three holes to beat California childhood rival Kevin Sutherland by a stroke on Sunday in the DICK’S Sporting Goods Open. Mccarron closed with an eightunder 64 a day after shooting a 61 at En-joie to join Sutherland atop the leaderboar­d entering the final round.

“To go low like I did the last couple days, I’ve never played that kind of golf for two days,” Mccarron said. “My hat’s off to Kevin. He played such good golf and it just got to be match play. It was like we were back in high school playing against each other, it was so much fun.”

Closer to home, Fraser Mann (Carnoustie Golf Links) and David Russell (Archerfiel­d Links) shot eight birdies between them but they also had three bogeys which cost them outright victory in the Grant’s Foods Seniors Autumn Fourball tournament at Duddingsto­n.

Mann and Russell’s fiveunder-par 69 was matched by Stephen Mcallister (Stephen Mcallister Golf ) and Gordon Niven (Ping) who had five better-ball birdies and no bogeys.

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