McIlroy wins HSBC in playoff
He edges Schauffele with two-putt birdie
SHANGHAI — Rory McIlroy thought he did everything he needed to win the HSBC Champions on Sunday, and then Xander Schauffele made him do a little more.
McIlroy delivered all the right shots in the playoff, smashing driver down the fairway and hitting 4-iron into 25 feet on the par-5 closing hole at Sheshan International to set up a two-putt birdie. Schauffele, who birdied the 18th in regulation to force a playoff, had to lay up from the rough near a bunker, and his 12-foot birdie putt stayed just right of the hole.
McIlroy won for the fourth time this year. It was his third World Golf Championships title, and his first since the Match Play at Harding Park in 2015. McIlroy played bogey-free over the last 39 holes and closed with a 4-under 68, taking trouble out of play down the stretch because he had the lead.
“Bogey-free on the weekend. I thought it would be enough to get the job done,” McIlroy said.
Victor Perez, a former University of New Mexico men’s golfer, finished tied for fourth, four shots back of McIlroy.
Schauffele turned in a bold performance in his bid to become the first back-to-back winner of the HSBC Champions. He spent all week battling remnants of the flu, started the final round two shots behind and never let McIlroy feel in control.
Two shots behind with four to play, Schauffele birdied two of the last four holes for a 66, two-putting from the front of the green to a pin toward the back on the 18th in regulation, calmly making the 5-footer to force overtime at Sheshan for the second straight year. They finished at 19-under 269. Phil Mickelson closed with a 68 and tied for 28th. With Shugo Imahira finishing second on the Japan Golf Tour, Mickelson will drop out of the top 50 in the world for the first time since Nov. 28, 1993, the longest consecutive streak in the top 50 since the Official World Golf Ranking began in 1986. “It was a good run,” Mickelson said. “But I’ll be back.”
PGA TOUR: In Southampton, Bermuda, Brendon Todd ran away with the Bermuda Championship for his second PGA Tour title, shooting a 9-under 62 after flirting with a sub-60 round at mostly calm Port Royal Golf Club.
Two months after regaining his tour card in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, Todd earned a two-year exemption, $540,000 and spots at Kapalua, The Players Championship and the PGA Championship. He won the 2014 Byron Nelson for first PGA Tour title, then went 100 starts before breaking through again.
Needing to birdie the final two holes to shoot 59, Todd missed a 20-foot birdie try on the par-5 17th and closed with a bogey after taking three shots to reach the green on the par-4 18th. He finished at 24-under 260 for a four-stroke victory over Harry Higgs in the firstyear event.
LPGA: In Tapei, Taiwan, American Nelly Korda successfully defended her title in the LPGA Swinging Skirts, birdieing the first hole of a playoff with Australia’s Minjee Lee and Germany Caroline Masson.
The 21-year-old Korda reached the par-5 18th in two in the playoff and two-putted for her third LPGA Tour victory.
Three strokes ahead entering the round, Korda birdied the par-5 18th in regulation for an even-par 72. Lee also birdied the last in a 69, and Masson shot 68. They finished at 18-under 270 at Miramar.
Korda had a three-stroke lead after a birdie on the par-5 12th, but bogeyed three of the next five to fall a stroke behind Masson.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: In Thousand Oaks, Calif., Colin Montgomerie won the Invesco QQQ Championship with a par on the first hole of a playoff after Bernhard Langer took four strokes to get out of a greenside bunker.
With Langer finally on the par-4 18th green in six shots, Montgomerie two-putted for the victory, with the 56-year-old Scot tapping in from 2 feet to end the second of three events in the PGA Tour Champions’ Charles Schwab Cup playoffs.
Playing five groups ahead of Langer, Montgomerie made a 40-foot birdie putt in regulation on 18 for a tournament-record 9-under 63. Langer parred the final four holes in regulation for a 67, leaving a 15-foot birdie try short on 18. They finished at 15-under 202.
Montgomerie won for the seventh time on the 50-and-over tour.