Kodaira rallies to win Heritage
Satoshi Kodaira made a 25-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to defeat Si Woo Kim after coming from six shots behind in the final round of the RBC Heritage on Sunday for his first PGA Tour victory.
Kodaira had finished off his round of 66 to get to 12-under par about an hour before Kim finished in Hilton Head Island, S.C. Kodaira matched Kim with two pars on the 18th hole before rolling in his winning putt on the par-3 17th.
Kim came up short on his 21-footer for birdie to keep the playoff going.
Bryson DeChambeau (66) and Luke List (72) were tied for third. Third-round leader Ian Poulter’s bid for a second tour title in three weeks ended with a 75 and a tie for seventh.
Kodaira, 28, is ranked 46th in the world. He has won three tournaments in Japan and played in the Masters last week, finishing tied for 28th.
Start times were pushed up Sunday morning because of bad weather forecast for later in the day. The tournament appeared in steady hands with Kim, whose bulldog focus and shot-making held everyone off to win The Players Championship last May. But the 22-yearold faltered over his final nine holes of regulation with three bogeys to fall into the tie with Kodaira.
Kim thought the increased winds slowed down the greens, making putts more difficult on the final nine holes. “But I tried my best and the putts didn’t drop,” Kim said.
Poulter, who won the Houston Open two weeks ago, had six bogeys Sunday.
Playing Harbour Town for the first time, Kodaira opened with a 73, then followed with the tournament’s best round of the week, 63 on Friday. That game kicked in once more in the final round, with six birdies on the way to the playoff.
DeChambeau, 24, the second-round leader who fell apart with a Saturday 75, bounced back Sunday with a 66 to finish two shots back. His roller coaster of a tournament played out again Sunday as he rose three shots to 9-under, then fell back to 7-under before closing with consecutive birdies on the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th.
World No. 1 Dustin Johnson finished with his best round of the week, a 67, and was tied for 16th, good enough for him to keep the top spot for a 61st consecutive week.
Spanish Open: Jon Rahm shot a 5-under 67 Sunday to win the Spanish Open in Madrid with overnight leader Paul Dunne two strokes behind.
LPGA: For the final two days of the Lotte Championship in Kapolei, Hawaii, it was clear that the only player who could beat Brooke Henderson was Brooke Henderson. She wasn’t about to let it happen Saturday at windy Ko Olina Golf Club, where she won by four shots.
Henderson, who won’t be 21 until September, won her sixth tour title, leaving her two short of Sandra Post for most by a Canadian player.
Kyle Larson will have to wait another day to try to capture his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season.
The race at Bristol Motor Speedway was postponed until today at 1 p.m. because of heavy rain with Larson out in front. Racing was halted three times Sunday due to wet weather.
Larson led 74 laps when the race was halted on lap 204, just 46 laps from becoming official. NASCAR hopes to complete all remaining 296 laps, although the forecast calls for more rain and possibly snow.
Larson seemed to have found his groove on the track before the third and final red flag came out. NASCAR waited about an hour before officially postponing the race with a forecast of steady rain for the remainder of Sunday night. “It’s hard to get a rhythm with all the rain and stuff and then getting out of your car and getting back in,” Larson said.
Larson liked the speed of his car, but said the track was slick. “There is only a little line there on the bottom that has got some grip,” said Larson, who normally likes to run on the high side of the Bristol track. “If you get out of it, it’s slick. If you get below it, it’s slick.”
Some drivers won’t have to worry about coming back today. Ryan Blaney was dominant early in the No. 12 Ford, leading 99 laps of the first 119 laps before getting caught up in wreck that left his car in shambles. It happened on turn three when Chris Buescher and Trevor Bayne, who were fighting to stay on the lead lap, got tangled up in front of Blaney, leaving him nowhere to maneuver. His car was taken behind the wall, ending his day.
Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher, Harrison Rhodes and Ross Chastain also are out of the race.
Formula One: Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo yanked off his right shoe, poured champagne into it as he stood on the podium, and then drank up to his unlikely victory in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai. The Australian started from the third row, but took advantage when the safety car came out on the 31st lap to allow him to get fresh, soft tires when the other leaders were running on worn rubber and couldn’t get in quickly to change.
Ricciardo got quicker and quicker and took the lead on the 45th lap of the 56-lap race, overtaking Valtteri Bottas with a dive on the inside past the Mercedes driver. Bottas called it a “fair” pass and finished second with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in third.
Ricciardo said he knew he had a great chance with the fresh rubber. And he knew he got a bit lucky. “That was obviously giving us a good little bit of grip on the restart,” Ricciardo said.
Red Bull’s victory leaves the F1 season in a scramble. There’s no clear favorite. Mercedes has not won any of the first three races with defending champion Lewis Hamilton and Bottas at the wheel. Hamilton finished fourth Sunday.
Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari finished eighth Sunday and leads the season standings with 54 points after three races.
Sidney Crosby matched a postseason best with four points on a goal and three assists to help the Pittsburgh Penguins beat Philadelphia 5-1 for a 2-1 lead in the firstround series. Crosby shut up the orange-and-black diehards with a wraparound goal off a turnover midway through the first. Game 4 is Wednesday in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia cut cornerback Daryl Worley. NFL Network reported that Worley was arrested Sunday near the team’s practice facility and that police used a Taser on him after he became combative. The report also said a gun was found in his vehicle.
At Houston, Steve Johnson beat Tennys Sandgren 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-4 to become the first player to successfully defend the U.S. Men’s Clay Court title in 16 years.