Top of the charts
Langer’s 45th triumph ties Irwin’s senior mark
NAPLES, Fla. — Hale Irwin, you’ve got some company.
Germany’s Bernhard Langer matched Irwin’s record for PGA Tour Champions career victories Sunday, when he won the Chubb Classic for the fifth time to reach 45 triumphs on the 50-and-older circuit previously known as the Senior Tour and the Champions Tour.
The 65-year-old Langer matched his age with a closing 7-under-par 65 for a three-stroke victory over Ireland’s Padraig Harrington (65) and Steve Stricker (66) of the United States. Two other Americans, Jerry Kelly and Dicky Pride, shared fourth at 13 under after each closed with a 68.
Langer finished the 54-hole event on Tiburon Golf Club’s Black Course at 17-under 199.
“It’s extremely special because we’ve been talking about it for so long, it seems now,” Langer said. “When I first came out here, I thought, ‘This is never going to happen.’”
At 65 years, 5 months, 23 days, the German star extended his record as the oldest winner in tour history. He holds the top three spots on that list.
Irwin, now 77, won 45 times from July 1995 to January 2007. The American player also won 20 times on the PGA Tour, getting his last of those wins the year before his first senior triumph.
Langer, a two-time Masters winner with three PGA Tour victories overall, has 42 career wins on the European circuit now known as the DP World Tour. He earned his first senior win in October 2007 and has won at least once every year since then, with this his second win of 2023.
“Just right now, I just feel relieved and grateful and thankful for everybody that’s been on my team and helping me through these years, ” Langer said. “Like we said, for a German kid from a village of 800 people and starting as a caddie to do what I’ve done, it takes a lot of people to do that, not just one.”
Langer also won Chubb Classic titles in 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2022.
Olesen finishes strong in Thailand
CHONBURI, Thailand — The 54-hole leader of the DP World Tour’s Thailand Classic became the winner Sunday at Amata Spring Country Club without much in the way of drama.
As far as Thorbjorn Olesen is concerned, that was more than fine.
The 33-year-old from Denmark earned his seventh victory on the Europe-based circuit, closing with a bogey-free 6-under 66 to finish at 24-under 264 and win by four shots.
Olesen started the final round two shots ahead of countryman Nicolai Hojgaard and Germany’s Yannik Paul of Germany, and he never let them — or anyone else — threaten him as he mostly cruised through the last 18 holes.
After two spectacular birdies on the 13th and 14th, Olesen never looked back. He had six birdies in all during the final round, splitting them equally between the front and back nines, though he lamented not capitalizing chances for even more.
“It was a bonus to make birdies on two tough holes,” he said of the back-to-back pickups. “It made me feel a little more comfortable. I felt steady and felt in control.”
Olesen’s first win in Asia is also his first anywhere since the British Masters last May, and his success will return him to the top 100 in the next edition of the Official World Golf Ranking.
Paul had five birdies and one bogey for a 68 as he finished second, and fellow German player Alexander Knappe made seven birdies on the back nine for a 67 to finish at 18 under, tying Dutch golfer Joost Luiten (69) for third.
Hojgaard (71) was another stroke back, alongside Spain’s Rafael Cabrera Bello (68) and France’s Antoine Rozner (66).
Ko gets back to the course, and winning
KING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY, Saudi Arabia — Lydia Ko began her new golfing year the same way she ended 2022: with a big win and a big check.
The top-ranked player in women’s golf, Ko closed with a 4-under 68 to finish at 21-under 267 and win the Aramco Saudi Ladies International. It’s the sixth Ladies European Tour victory for the 25-year-old New Zealander.
Ko held off India’s Aditi Ashok — the 24-year-old also had a 68 to finish a stroke back and alone in second — to capture the richest prize among regular events on this tour. She won $750,000 from the $5 million prize fund at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.
In late November, Ko won the LPGA’s seasonending CME Group Tour Championship and $2 million, the richest payoff in women’s golf, which elevated her to No. 1 in the world.
She got married in December, skipped the LPGA Tour’s season opener in Florida last month, then showed she still was in topranked form by posting her 26th career victory worldwide.
After opening with a 64, she stepped back with a 69 on Friday but regained position with Saturday’s 66.
“I’m playing with the world’s best. The field this week was really good, so I knew it was going to be a challenge,” Ko said. “The first one of the year, it’s really hard because you don’t have anything to base yourself off.
“You don’t know if you’re going to play well or bad. But the start definitely helped, and I think I stayed really patient and I was not as nervous as I thought I would be, which is definitely good.”
Lilia Vu, who had a one-shot lead going into the final round, slipped to a 71 and shared third with fellow American player Lexi Thompson (66) and Belgium’s Manon De Roey (63).
Georgia Tech alum wins event in Qatar
Georgia Tech alumnus Andy Ogletree closed with a 1-over 73 to finish at 7-under
281 and win the International Series
Qatar tournament by three shots over Thailand’s
Gunn Charoenkul (68).
Ogletree won $450,000 for his second title on the Asian Tour’s International Series, which is funded by LIV Golf. The first was a fourstroke triumph in November in Egypt, where he finished 23 under par.
The 24-year-old from Mississippi won the 2019 U.S. Amateur and was the low amateur at the Masters the following year, when he tied for 34th.