Bhatia wins Texas Open, is in Masters
Akshay Bhatia nearly celebrated too soon Sunday, hurting his left shoulder while pumping his arms on a 12-foot birdie to force a playoff. He recovered to make birdie on the first extra hole and win the Texas Open over hard-luck Denny McCarthy to earn a trip to the Masters.
It was a wild finish on so many levels.
McCarthy was six shots behind going to the back nine at the TPC San Antonio when he birdied eight of the nine holes — including the last seven — making a 12-foot birdie for a 9-under
63. Bhatia had to make his birdie putt from the same range to have a chance.
He made it for a 67, raising his arms to shake them in his clutch moment. And that's when he felt his shoulder — which he says has given him trouble before — pop out of its socket.
Bhatia hit his tee shot and laid up with a 5-iron on the par-5 18th in the playoff.
McCarthy, playing in his 174th PGA Tour event without winning, was first to play and chunked a wedge so badly that he immediately hung his head. The ball came up some 20 yards short into the middle of a creek.
And then Bhatia called for treatment, jogging off the course briefly to get his shoulder taped. He returned and hit wedge to 6 feet. Needing three putts to win, he holed it to win for the second time on the PGA Tour.
“Man, what a crazy, crazy day,” Bhatia said.
The 22-year-old Bhatia, who turned pro five years ago, won at the Barracuda Championship last summer. It was held opposite the British Open, so it did not get him into the Masters.
• Dean Burmester of South Africa won for the first time on the LIV Golf League by closing with a 4-under 68 and beating Sergio Garcia in a playoff Sunday when the Spaniard hit into the water on the second extra hole at LIV Golf Miami.
It was the third time Garcia has lost a playoff in LIV Golf, and the second time this year.
The former Masters champion, who has yet to win since joining the Saudi-funded league when it launched in 2022, looked to have this one in hand when he holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole and then took the lead when Burmester bogeyed the 18th at Trump National Doral.
Garcia badly missed a 4-foot par putt on the 18th hole and shot 70. They finished at 11-under 205, one shot ahead of Matthew Wolff.
Both made par on the 18th on the first playoff hole. The second time around, Garcia came up short of the green and into the water. Burmester made a 3-foot par putt for the win, giving him the $4 million prize.
“I've been at the receiving end of this,” Burmester said. “I felt like I played great. I haven't got it done. Sergio gave me a lifeline.”
• Nelly Korda won the TMobile Match Play on Sunday became the first LPGA Tour player in 16 years to win four straight starts, taking four of the first seven holes and going on to beat Leona Maguire 4 and 3 at Shadow Creek in North Las Vegas.
Lorena Ochoa in 2008 was the last player to win four consecutive starts. Korda, the world's topranked player, will try to tie the record of five — set by Nancy Lopez in 1978 and matched by Annika Sorenstam in 2004-05 — in two weeks at the season's first major, The Chevron Championship.
Because Korda took seven weeks off after winning in January in her hometown of Bradenton, Florida, this victory was her third straight in a scheduled event. Four players share the record of four in a row, with Mickey Wright doing it twice.
Korda earned $300,000 for her 12th career victory.
Patriots re-sign Dugger to 4-year deal
The Patriots are re-signing safety Kyle Dugger to a four-year contract, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Sunday.
The new deal is worth a base salary of $58 million, which includes $32.5 million in guarantees, and has a maximum value of $66 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because terms have not been announced. The deal was first reported by NFL Network.
Dugger started all 17 games last season and led the Patriots with 71 solo tackles and two interceptions. The 28-year-old has totaled nine interceptions and 343 combined tackles over the past four seasons since being drafted in the second round out of LenoirRhyne in 2020.
Collins victorious in Charleston Open final
Danielle Collins is loaded with confidence and belief in what she can accomplish in her final season after following her Miami Open title with the Charleston Open championship on Sunday.
Collins powered past 11th-ranked Daria Kasatkina for a 6-2, 6-1 victory Sunday, her career-best 13th straight match win as she became the first since Serena Williams in 2013 to follow a hard-court victory at Miami with one on the green clay of Charleston.
And she's open to even more in what is the 30-yearold's final season on tour.
“I'm just trying to keep this train rolling,” Collins said after winning her fourth WTA title. “Really be myself out there and not think too much about what's next.”
• Ben Shelton captured his second career ATP Tour title, outlasting defending champion Frances Tiafoe 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to win the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship in Houston.
Shelton, 21, had 11 aces on the way to becoming the youngest player to win this event since Andy Roddick did it at 19 years old in 2002.
Shelton has had his issues on clay courts. He was 2-7 in his career on the slower surface and had lost his last five clay-court matches before starting tournament play this week.
But Shelton survived three three-set matches to take the title, his first since winning in Tokyo this past October.
The former Florida Gator standout won 83% of his first-serve points according to Infosys ATP Stats to triumph after 2 hours, 16 minutes.
Van der Poel wins Paris-Roubaix classic
Dutch cycling star Mathieu Van der Poel broke away with 60 kilometers (37 miles) remaining to win the Paris-Roubaix cycling classic for the second straight year with a dominant performance on Sunday.
With his archrival Wout van Aert recovering from multiple injuries sustained at the Dwars door Vlaanderen race in late March, Van der Poel dominated the grueling 260 kilometer (161-mile) trek from its start in Compiègne to Roubaix in northern France. When he attacked with 60 kilometers to go, his rivals simply could not catch him in dry conditions which made the 29 cobblestone sections less treacherous.