Korda prevails in Se Ri Pak playoff
Peter Malnati got a great break with the tournament on the line and followed that with an even better shot, making a late birdie on his way to a 4-under 67 to win the Valspar Championship on Sunday and earn his first trip to the Masters.
Malnati tapped in that yellow golf ball for par on the final hole for only his second PGA Tour victory. He won by two over Cameron Young, who made it easier on him by taking bogey on the final hole for a 68. Young now has seven runner-up finishes without a win.
On a wild day of rallies and meltdowns, it came down to Malnati and Young playing a group apart as they headed into the tough finishing stretch at Innisbrook known as the “Snake Pit.”
Malnati’s approach on the 16th went long and left into gnarly rough some 50 feet from the pin, leaving him a tough chip to try to save par and stay tied. But his foot was on a sprinkler head, which entitled him to a free drop. With the extra club length, he was able to drop it on the fringe and use putter, which he sent down to short range for par.
On the par-3 17th into wind, Malnati hit a laser to 6 feet and made birdie to take the lead. Up ahead, Young hit his drive well left and did well to hammer a gap wedge over the trees and onto the green, 50 feet away. He lagged it about 10 feet short and missed the par putt.
Malnati found a fairway bunker on the 18th, but hit that on the green for a simple two-putt to finish at 12-under 272, his first victory since the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2015.
More than the $1,512,000 from winning, Malnati goes to the Masters for the first time and gets a two-year exemption. He also is assured of getting into the remaining four $20 million signature events without any help.
Malnati is one of six player-directors on the PGA Tour board, and he was singled out for criticism when he received a sponsor exemption — along with two other board members — to the AT&T Pebble Beach Proam.
It was gut-wrenching for Young, one of the top young talents and power players in golf who can’t seem to get across the line. He shot 31 on the back nine at St. Andrews in the 2022 British Open, only to finish one shot behind Cameron Smith, who shot 30. Young also was in the hunt until the 16th hole of the 2022 PGA Championship.
Mackenzie Hughes of Canada (70) and PGA Tour rookie Chandler Phillips (69) tied for third. They were among five players who had at least a share of the lead in the final round at Innisbrook.
Nelly Korda made bogey on her final two holes Sunday to fall into a playoff and atoned for it quickly, making a 12-foot birdie putt to beat Ryann O’toole in the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship to return to No. 1 in the world.
Korda, who closed with a 2-under 69, won for the second time this year, both of them involving surprising collapses and amazing revivals.
She won the Drive On Championship in Florida in January by dropping four shots in three holes on the back nine, only to rally with an eagle-birdie finish to beat Lydia Ko.
Korda, playing for the first time since that Drive On win at the end of January, seized control by smashing a fairway metal up the hill on the par-5 14th. The ball caught a slope at the back of the green and rolled down to 18 feet, and she made the eagle putt.
O’toole holed a 20-foot par putt on the 18th for a 66, and that looked to be good only for second place. But then Korda came up short of the par-3 17th and missed a 6-foot par putt, and she went long on the 18th and made another bogey.
They finished at 9-under 275, and the playoff ended quickly.
O’toole hit 7-iron from the right rough to about 15 feet and her birdie putt burned the edge of the cup. Korda hit 8-iron to 12 feet and poured it in for her 10th career LPGA title.
Korda decided to skip the entire Asia swing, giving her nearly two months off. It helped that her swing coach, Jamie Mulligan, works down the road at Virginia Country Club in Long Beach and was able to work with her after each round.
Jiyai Shin, a former world No. 1 who has been the top player on four worldwide tours, shared the lead going into the final round but fell back for good with a three-putt double bogey on the 12th. She closed with a 73 and tied for fifth.
Gabriela Ruffels (70) and Alison Lee (72) tied for third. Ruffels needed a birdie on the final hole to join the playoff.
Korda replaces Lilia Vu at the top of the women’s world ranking.