Rahm’s birdie putt on 4th playoff hole clinches win

Landry misses couple of chances

LA QUINTA, Calif. — Jon Rahm beat Andrew Landry with a 12-foot birdie putt on the fourth hole of a playoff Sunday in the CareerBuilder Challenge.

In fading light on the Stadium Course at PGA West, Rahm finished off Landry for his second PGA Tour title and fourth worldwide victory in a year. The 23-year-old Spaniard will jump from third to second in the world ranking behind Dustin Johnson.

“It’s hard to believe, to be honest, passing Jordan Spieth, three-time major champion,” Rahm said. “I only have two wins and he’s got 10-plus, right? I never thought I was going to be at this point in my life right now.”

Rahm overcame surprising par-5 problems in regulation to shoot 5-under 67. Landry, playing a group behind Rahm in the final threesome, forced the playoff with an 11-foot birdie putt on the water-guarded 18th for a 68. They finished at 22-under 266.

“Tournaments like this build character,” Rahm said. “I’m just proud of myself to hit what’s probably my least favorite club, which is the 3-wood, three times in a row dead center on my line on 18 — four times if you include the regular play. To be honest, really happy the way it happened the way it did and really proud of the way I played. I hit a lot of bad putts today, hit a lot of edges, but lucky the one I needed to make went in.”

After Rahm made his birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole, Landry missed an 11-footer.

“This was a weird pin location,” Landry said. “I felt like it was hard for those balls to break and I read it perfectly the first time and the next two times we had the exact same yardage, exact same putt right there, so just hit it a little too firm and tried to take some of the break out and it actually just kind of stayed high.”

SINGAPORE: Masters champion Sergio Garcia began his 20th year as a pro by closing with a 3-under 68 for a five-shot victory at the Singapore Open.

Garcia won for the 28th time in his career, and in his fourth Asian country.

ABU DHABI: Tommy Fleetwood successfully defended his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship title on Sunday after a sensational back nine to clinch the win.

The 27-year-old Englishman, who celebrated his birthday on Friday, started the final round two shots behind overnight leaders Ross Fisher and Thomas Pieters, and an indifferent front nine saw him make the turn five shots behind Fisher as gusty winds hit the National course of Abu Dhabi Golf Club

But Fleetwood birdied the 10th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 18th holes for a sevenunder par 65 round to finish on 22-under 267.