Daly earns first Champions win
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — John Daly was happy to be back on top, no matter how bad he may have looked finishing off his first tournament victory in a long time.
Daly closed with three straight bogeys Sunday but held on for his first PGA Tour Champions title, a one-stroke victory over Tommy Armour III and Kenny Perry in the Insperity Invitational.
“It wasn’t pretty at the end,” Daly said. “But I got it done, and that’s all that matters.”
The 51-year-old Daly had not won on tour since the PGA Tour’s 2004 Buick Invitational, and he hasn’t exactly torn up the 50-and-older circuit since debuting in this tournament a year ago.
Wearing American flag pants, Daly shot a 3-under 69 to finish at 14-under 202 and earned $322,500. He opened with rounds of 68 and 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Perry into the final round at The Woodlands Country Club.
Perry closed with a 69, and Armour had a 67.
Daly eagled the par-5 first hole Sunday, and he appeared to be cruising to victory when he moved to 17 under and held a two-stroke lead through 15 holes. Poor tee shots on the final three holes led to mistakes Armour and Perry were unable to take advantage of trying to chase down Daly.
As Daly walked to the 18th green, he knelt and kissed the large, colorful umbrella printed on the fairway to honor the late Arnold Palmer.
When Daly tapped in the winning putt, he pumped his fist. Moments later, friends and colleagues — including golfers Esteban Toledo and Michael Allen — ran out to spray their pal with champagne. Daly closed his eyes, leaned back and soaked it all in.
“A win is a win, man,” he said. “And I didn’t think it would come this soon.”
The two-time major champion becomes the 12th member of the senior tour to record a win on all three PGA Tour circuits.
Kim match play champ
MEXICO CITY — Sei Young Kim held off Ariya Jutanugarn 1 up to win the Lorena Ochoa Match Play tournament for her sixth LPGA Tour title.
After Jutanugarn won the par-5 17th with a birdie to force another hole at Club de Golf Mexico, Kim finished off the match by halving the par-4 18th with a par.
In the morning semifinals, Kim beat Mi Jung Hur 5 and 4, and the third-ranked Jutanugarn topped Michelle Wie 4 and 3. Hur won the thirdplace match, overcoming a five-hole deficit to beat Wie in 22 holes.
Kim also beat Maude-Aimee Leblanc (3 and 1), Danielle Kang (3 and 2), Charley Hull (3 and 1) and Karine Icher (5 and 4) in an event that was formerly stroke play and held in November. The 24-year-old South Korean player is projected to jump from 12th to eighth in the world ranking.
Denmark wins GolfSixes
ST. ALBANS, England — Denmark won the inaugural GolfSixes tournament as Thorbjorn Olesen and Lucas Bjerregaard teamed up to beat Australia’s Scott Hend and Sam Brazel in the final of the six-hole match play event.
Victories over France in the quarterfinals and Italy in the semifinals earned the Danes a place in the title match at the Centurion Club in southern England, and Olesen and Bjerregaard won the last three holes for a 3-1 victory.
Seeking to broaden the appeal of golf, the European Tour was experimenting with GolfSixes, which featured walkout music on the first tee, longdrive competitions, pyrotechnics and shot clocks.
Australia reached the final by beating Thailand and then Scotland in the knockout stages earlier Sunday.
Lashley breaks through
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic — Nate Lashley won the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship for his first title on the Web.com Tour, closing with a 6-under 66 for a one-stroke victory.
Lashley, 34, topped the PGA Tour Latinoamerica money list last season to earn a spot on the Web.com Tour, where the top 10 earners at the end of the season will earn PGA Tour cards.
Lashley finished at 20-under 268 at Corales Golf Course and earned $112,500 to jump from 24th to second on the money list with $167,913. He won three times last year on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica.
Augusto Nunez (65) was second, while Rafael Campos (70) tied with Seth Reeves (67) and Tyler Duncan (68) for third place at 18 under.