CareerBuilder win for Rahm in playoff
Jon Rahm beat Andrew Landry with a 12-foot birdie putt on the fourth hole of a playoff yesterday to win golf’s CareerBuilder Challenge in La Quinta, Calif.
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.
Adam Hadwin (68), Martin Piller (70) and John Huh (66) tied for third at 20-under, and Kevin Chappell (67) and Scott Piercy (70) were another stroke back . . . .
Tommy Fleetwood successfully defended his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship title yesterday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, after a sensational back nine with six birdies to clinch the win, carding a 7-under 65 to finish on 22-under 267.
Ross Fisher, who had a 5-stroke lead when Fleetwood made the turn, shot a 69 for a 20-under finish. Rory McIlroy (70), making a comeback to tournament golf after nearly 100 days off, was tied third at 18-under alongside Matthew Fitzpatrick (69). Top ranked Dustin Johnson shot a final-round 70 to finish on 14 under . ...
Masters champion Sergio Garcia began his 20th year as a pro by closing with a 3-under 68 for a 5-shot victory at the Singapore Open. He won for the 28th time in his career, and in his fourth Asian country, over Satoshi Kodaira (71) of Japan and Shaun Norris (70) of South Africa.
Skiing: Gut back atop podium
Lara Gut won the final World Cup super-G before next month’s Olympics, on the slopes of Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, signaling a return to form after knee surgery last season.
In a race on a shortened course that was shaped by strong winds, overcast conditions and overnight snowfall, Gut clocked 1:14.78 for a 0.14-second advantage over Johanna Schnarf of Italy. Nicole Schmidhofer of Austria finished third, 0.27 behind.
Lindsey Vonn, the record holder in Cortina with 12 wins, was slowed by a strong gust of wind and finished sixth, 0.37 back . . . .
Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway won a men’s World Cup slalom in Kitzbuehel, Austria, ending Marcel Hirscher’s five-race winning streak. Daniel Yule of Switzerland was 1.35 behind in third, while the rest of the field finished more than 2.2 seconds off the lead.
Misc.: U.S. women kick off with win
Mallory Pugh scored a pair of second-half goals, and the U.S. women’s national soccer team opened the year with a 5-1 victory against Denmark in San Diego. Alex Morgan, Julie Ertz and Crystal Dunn also scored for the top-ranked United States . . . .
Harry Kane scored his Premier League-leading 21st goal of the season but Tottenham left Southampton frustrated after a 1-1 draw . . . .
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez scored twice as Barcelona cruised to a 5-0 win at Real Betis, increasing its Spanish league lead to 11 points ahead of Atletico Madrid at the start of La Liga’s second half . . . .
Longtime USA Hockey executive and U.S. Olympic men’s hockey general manager Jim Johannson died unexpectedly at age 53 at his home in Colorado Springs, Colo., shocking the sport less than three weeks before the start of the Pyeongchang Games.