Birdies rally Ramey to triumph
He erases two-shot deficit at start of round to capture first PGA Tour victory
Chad Ramey won the windswept Corales Puntacana Championship on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title, beating Ben Martin and Alex Smalley by a stroke.
Ramey closed with a 5-under 67, completing a two-putt par on the par-4 18th after Martin missed a 6foot birdie try that would have forced a playoff.
“It was honestly like I always thought it would be,” Ramey said. “It was very stressful, very nerve-wracking coming down the stretch, but I just grinded it out, kind of stuck to my process, stayed within myself and pulled it out.”
Two strokes behind Martin entering the round, Ramey made four straight birdies on Nos. 13-16 to take the lead and parred the par-3 17th at Corales Golf Course.
“I’ve been rolling the putter good all day, they just hadn’t been going in,” Ramey said. “I was kind of all around the hole on the front side. I didn’t change a thing, I didn’t do anything different. They just started going in.”
With the tournament played opposite the Match Play event in Austin, Texas, Ramey earned an exemption into the PGA Championship but not the Masters.
The 29-year-old from Mississippi finished at 17-under 271.
“I think it will take maybe a day or two to sink in,” Ramey said. “Everything ’s pretty surreal, happening pretty fast, but I’m definitely excited.”
Martin, the leader after each of the first three rounds, closed with a 70.
LPGA: Atthaya Thitikul won the JTBC Classic for her first LPGA Tour title, three-putting for bogey on the second hole of a playoff to outlast Nanna Koerstz Madsen. After Koerstz Madsen’s 15-foot bogey putt hit the edge of the cup and stayed out, the 19-year-old Thitikul rolled her 10-foot par try close and holed out for the breakthrough victory. At 19 years, 25 days, Thitikul is the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour since Brooke Henderson in the 2016 Portland Classic at 18 years, 9 months, 23 days. Koerstz Madsen was three strokes ahead of Na Rin An and six in front of Thitikul entering the round. She took the lead with a birdie on the par-5 17th, then bogeyed 18 to fall into the playoff. Top-ranked Jin Young Ko (68) was 14 under, extended her tour record for consecutive sub-par rounds to 34.
DP World:
Ewen Ferguson of Scotland won the Qatar Masters for his first DP World Tour title, closing with a 2-under 70 in high wind for a one-stroke win. Ferguson finished at 7-under 281. Playing partner Chase Hanna was second. The American shot a 71. Adrian Meronk and Marcus Kinhult tied for third at 5 under.