THOMAS SHOOTS 69 TO EARN EASY BRIDGESTONE VICTORY
Justin Thomas never let anyone closer than two shots and closed with a 1-under 69 Sunday to win the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio, for his third PGA Tour title this season.
The final World Golf Championship at Firestone lacked drama. Tiger Woods, an eight-time winner at Firestone, tried to go out with a bang and ended with a dud. He shot 73 to finish 15 shots behind. Rory McIlroy, playing in the final group with Thomas, said he was tired of finishing second this year, but he shot 73 and tied for sixth.
Jason Day and Kyle Stanley tried to make a move, only to stumble with bogeys.
Thomas captured his first World Golf Championship and heads to his title defense at the PGA Championship with plenty of momentum.
Women’s British Open: Named in honor of a famous Masters victory, Georgia Hall has her hands on one of the big trophies in women’s golf at the age of 22. The Englishwoman reeled in long-time leader Pornanong Phatlum in a gripping final-round duel at Royal Lytham to win the Women’s British Open for her first major title in Lytham St. Annes, England.
Hull tapped in for a bogey — her first of the day — at the last hole to clinch a two-shot victory over Pornanong. Hall then hugged her playing partner from Thailand before being lifted off her feet by her caddie, father Wayne.
It was fitting that Wayne, a former two-handicapper himself, was on the bag to experience the biggest moment of his daughter’s career. Georgia was born during the 1996 Masters won by English golfer Nick Faldo. She was named in honor of that win, which came after Faldo overcame a six-stroke deficit in the final round.
Twenty-two years later, Hall is the pride of English golf just like Faldo was. And the way Hall kept her composure and kept producing the shots of her life down the stretch, there might be more major titles to come. Her round of 5-under 67, which included six birdies, saw her finish on 17-under 271.
“I was loving it deep down, hitting the shots under pressure,” said Hall, who barely showed any emotions all round. “To get six birdies in the final round of a major is not bad.”
Hall became the first English major winner since Karen Stupples won this event in 2004, and the fourth overall. She followed Stupples and Catriona Matthew — in 2009 at Lytham — as the only British winners of the Women’s British Open since it achieved major status in 2001.
Ryu So-yeon of South Korea was third on 13 under after a final-round 70.
Champions: Kenny Perry won the 3M Championship one last time, closing with a 3-under 69 for a three-stroke victory at 21-under 195 in the PGA Tour Champions event that is being replaced by the PGA Tour’s 3M Open. Also the 2014 and 2015 winner at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn., the 57-year-old Perry matched Hale Irwin’s tournament record of three victories in the final edition of the event that started in 1993 at Bunker Hills. Wes Short Jr. was second after a 63.
PGA: Andrew Putnam took the lead Saturday in the Barracuda Championship, three points ahead of playing partner Sam Saunders in the PGA Tour’s only modified Stableford scoring event. Putnam had eight birdies and a bogey at windy Montreux Golf and Country Club in Reno. Nev., scoring 15 points under the format that awards eight points for albatross, five for eagle, two for birdie and zero for par, and subtracts a point for bogey and three for double bogey or worse.
Fiji International: India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar held out a record-breaking charge from Australian Anthony Quale to win by one stroke in Sigatoka, Fiji.