Inspired play
Day clutch in Wells Fargo win
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jason Day channeled his inner LeBron James as he captured his second PGA Tour win of the season.
Day said he drew inspiration from the NBA star — James hit the buzzer-beating winner for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Toronto Raptors — before he pulled off his own clutch performance Sunday at Quail Hollow Club.
Leading by a stroke, Day’s 7-iron shot hit the flagstick on the 230-yard, par-3 17th hole, setting up a three-foot birdie putt and a two-shot victory over Nick Watney and Aaron Wise in the Wells Fargo Championship.
“That is what I am most happy about,” Day said. “When you are on call to do something good and you pull it off, to be clutch like that, with a lot of heart. … I’m glad I watched LeBron James this morning.”
The 30-year-old Australian — an Ohio resident who can be found courtside at Cavs games — fought through some wayward tee shots and self-doubt to close with a 2-under-par 69. He finished at 12-under 272 overall.
Baylor School graduate Luke List shot a 70 and tied for ninth at 5 under to earn $200,200. It’s his fifth top-five finish this season, with three of those coming since the middle of March, and he moved up a spot to 15th in the Fed-Ex Cup rankings.
Day said he never felt on top of his game Sunday, but he was on top of the leaderboard when it was all over.
“One of the best wins I have ever had,” he said.
He missed more than half the fairways — including an ugly hook into the water on the par-4 14th — hit just eight greens in regulation and made four bogeys, squandering a three-shot lead on the back nine. But he toughed it out on the final three holes, nicknamed the “Green Mile,” by playing them in 2 under.
Day caught his biggest break on 17, where the ball bounced four times and was moving fast when it hit the pin, drawing a huge roar from the crowd. It came on a hole with water short, left and long of the green that gave players fits all day because the putting surface was so firm that it was tough to stop the ball.
“Things like that are what you need to win tournaments,” Day said.
Day, who has had trouble with the closing hole in the past, then had the luxury of hitting an iron off the 18th tee, knowing he had a two-shot lead. He got up and down from the rough right of the green to finish with a par.
“You sit there and play mental games with yourself, subconsciously saying, ‘You can’t do this. You’re going to fail, you’re going to fail,’” Day said. “I just kept on saying to myself, ‘Forget about it and keep pushing.’”
It was Day’s 12th career win on the PGA Tour. The former world No. 1 also won the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year after a winless 2017.
Wise, 21, was thrilled with the best finish of his career. He closed with a 68 but had to share the runner-up spot when Watney drained a 59-foot putt on the 18th for a 69.
Bryson DeChambeau (70) was fourth at 8-under 276, with Paul Casey (71), Phil Mickelson (69) and Peter Uihlein (71) fifth at 7 under and Masters champion Patrick Reed (69) another stroke back in eighth. List shared ninth with Emiliano Grillo (69), Charl Schwartzel (72) and Sam Saunders (72).
Baylor School graduate Keith Mitchell (68) tied for 34th at par.
Tiger Woods (74) tied for 55th, 14 shots out of the lead, after he failed to make a birdie in the final round of a tournament for the first time since 2014.
“I didn’t putt well again,” Woods said. “The chances I did have, I missed them all. Just a bad week.”
Langer holds on
THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Bernhard Langer earned his first PGA Tour Champions win of the year when he saved par on the final hole for a 2-under 70 and a one-shot victory in the Insperity Invitational.
Langer, who finished the 54-hole event at 11-under 205, rallied from four shots behind in the final round at TPC Woodlands. He bookended the front nine with birdies but also had three bogeys; on the back nine, he had birdies on Nos. 10, 13 and 15.
Paul Goydos (68) led for much of the back nine until a bogey on the 18th. He tied for second with Bart Bryant and Jeff Maggert, who each had a 69.
The 60-year-old Langer won for the 37th time on the the 50-and-older tour, which trails only Hale Irwin’s 45 senior victories. Four of Langer’s wins are at the Insperity Invitational.
Birdie for the win
THE COLONY, Texas — Sung Hyun Park sprinted to the finish in the LPGA Tour’s weather-abbreviated Texas Classic, chipping in for birdie to close out a 5-under 66 in the second and final round.
Her 36-hole score was 11-under 131, one shot better than Lindy Duncan, who closed with a tournament-best 64.
Park, a sweet-swinging 24-year-old South Korean and the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 5, ended up needing that chip to drop to survive the late charge by Duncan, who birdied her final three holes.
Park, who won the U.S. Women’s Open and was named co-player of the year and rookie of the year in 2017, ran her LPGA Tour victories total to three.
Tour rookie Yu Liu (66) was third, two shots back, while Ariya Jutanugarn (66) and Sei Young Kim (67) were another shot behind in fourth.
The event was reduced from 72 holes after Thursday’s round was canceled and Friday’s play was delayed by 8 1/2 hours because of rain. A few golfers played both rounds Saturday, but many were left with a few holes to finish Sunday; half the field, including Park, had a full round to play.