Furyk birdies playoff hole to defeat Kelly
Jim Furyk joined Arnold Palmer and Bruce Fleisher as the only players to win their first two PGA Tour Champions starts, beating Madison’s Jerry Kelly with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff in the Pure Insurance Championship in Pebble Beach, California.
The 50-year-old Furyk won The Ally Championship last month in Michigan in his tour debut. Palmer won his first two events in 1980, and Fleisher accomplished the feat in 1999.
“I feel very fortunate, it means a lot,” Furyk said. “When I won at Ally, I hadn’t won in over five years. It’s why we play the game, it’s why you work so hard, it’s to have this feeling. I feel honored I guess to be mentioned with AP. I look at the hard work I put in a lot of this year through our delay, our break.”
Furyk and Kelly both laid up on the par-5 18th in the playoff, with Kelly hitting his approach to 10 feet and Furyk following with a 90-yard wedge to 3 feet. Furyk holed his birdie try after Kelly pulled his attempt.
“The first time in there I tried to kind of cut a gap wedge and I hit it just how I wanted, saw how firm that green was, it kicked forward,” Furyk said. “So with it not playing quite as long, it was kind of a perfect go-ahead-andhit sand wedge, I knew I could spin it. ”
Furyk closed with a 5-under 67 – a day after losing the lead to Ernie Els with a second-round 73 – to match Kelly at 12-under 204. Playing three groups ahead of Furyk and four in front of Els, Kelly birdied the 18th for a 65.
Els missed a 2-foot putt on the 18th to finish a stroke out of the playoff. The South African star shot his second straight 70.
“I just missed the putt, kind of misread it,” Els said. “I battled hard. I didn’t quite have my swing.”
Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open winner and 17-time PGA Tour champion, played the first six holes Sunday in 5 under – making an eagle on the par-5 second and three birdies –- then parred the final 12.
“I drove the ball so well today and especially on the back nine,” Furyk said, “I didn’t score as well on the back, but I drove the ball well, relied on that, tried to make the same swing.”
Mike Weir (69) and Retief Goosen (70) tied for fourth at 9 under.
Dicky Pride, playing alongside Els in the final group, had a 77 to drop into a tie for 25th at 3 under.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was played without spectators and juniors from The First Tee program. The amateur field was cut to 80.
LPGA: Georgia Hall won the Cambia Portland Classic on Sunday for her first LPGA Tour victory in the United States, beating Ashleigh Buhai with a par on the second hole of a playoff.
Hall won after falling into a tie with a bogey on the part-4 18th in regulation. The 24-year-old Englishwoman, the 2018 Women’s British Open champion, matched Buhai with a par on 18 on the first extra hole and won on the par-4 first at Columbia Edgewater in Portland, Oregon.
Hall closed with a 4-under 68. She bogeyed the par-4 third, birdied Nos. 5-7 and 10-12 and made five straight pars before closing with bogey to fall into the playoff.
The 31-year-old Buhai, from South Africa, missed a chance for her first victory. She birdied four of the last five holes for a 65.
Moriya Jutanugarn (67) and Yealimi Noh (69) finished a stroke out of the playoff.
Second-round leader Mel Reid (74) was 10 under with Inbee Park (66), Caroline Masson (66), Mariah Stackhouse (67), Cheyenne Knight (68), Robynn Ree (66) and Jasmine Suwannapura (68).
Kang topped the group at 9 under. Defending champion Hannah Green, two strokes behind Reid entering the day, had a 73 to also finish at 9 under.
Sophia Popov shot a 70 to tie for 24th at 6 under in her first start as an LPGA Tour member. The German won the Women’s British Open.