Berger earns repeat St. Jude victory
Daniel Berger shot a 4-under 66 to erase a threeshot deficit and win the St. Jude Classic on Sunday in Memphis, Tenn., for a second straight year.
Berger, 24, is the fourth back-to-back winner at St. Jude and the first since David Toms did it in 2003-04.
Berger played a bogeyfree round, avoiding trouble on a fast, firm course at TPC Southwind. His 17-foot birdie putt on No. 15 put him ahead for good and he finished at 10-under 270. Now he’ll take some momentum into next week’s U.S. Open.
South African Charl Schwartzel shot a 66 and South Korean Whee Kim shot a 67 to finish in second, one shot back. Amateur Braden Thornberry and Billy Horschel were among five players two shots back.
Stewart Cink, Ben Crane and Rafa Cabrera Bello started Sunday with a oneshot lead on a crowded leaderboard. At one point, there were nine players tied for the lead at 8 under.
Phil Mickelson briefly had a share of the lead during the final round, but a triple bogey on No. 12 — which included a shot into the water — knocked him out of contention. He still shot a 68 and finished at 7 under, three shots behind the winner.
Thornberry shot a 65 and became the first amateur to finish in the top 10 at the St. Jude Classic since 1965.
Armed with a new putter, Brandt Jobe topped former UCLA roommate Scott McCarron and earned his first tournament title since 1998 at the Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines, Iowa.
Jobe shot a 69 in the final round at the Wakonda Club and finished at 14-under 202. McCarron, who won in Iowa last year, tied for second with Kevin Sutherland after shooting a final-round 66 — the day’s best score. Sutherland eagled No. 18 to reach 203. Bernhard Langer finished third at 204.
McCarron missed birdie putts on Nos. 17 and 18 that would have pulled him even with Jobe.
Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand won the Manulife LPGA Classic with a birdie on the first playoff hole in Cambridge, Ontario, to beat
Champions: LPGA:
American Lexi Thompson and South Korea’s In Gee Chun.
Jutanugarn’s drive found the long grass on the side of the par-4 No. 18, but she recovered with an approach shot that left her pin-high and made a 25-footer.
Jutanugarn finished with a 3-under 69 in the final round and was tied with Thompson (72) and Chun (70) at 17-under 271.
Thompson, who started the day with a one-shot lead, led by four at the turn but stumbled on the back nine with four bogeys. She threeputted from 35 feet on the 18th and missed a four-footer that could have given her the victory.
Europe:
Dylan Frittelli shot a 5-under 67 in Atzenbrugg, Austria, to win the Lyoness Open for his first tour title. Frittelli, a Challenge Tour graduate from South Africa who turned pro in 2012, finished 12 under, defeated Finland’s Mikko Korhonen, England’s David Horsey and countryman Jbe Kruger by one stroke.