Kokrak rallies for win with 4 straight birdies
Jason Kokrak had reason to believe he shot himself out of the Houston Open on the back nine Saturday morning. He played it 10 shots better when it counted Sunday afternoon, making four straight birdies for a 5-under 65 and a two-shot victory.
Two shots behind with six holes to play, Kokrak delivered all the right shots to pull away from a fading Scottie Scheffler and Martin Trainer and win for the third time in the last 13 months.
“Very blessed to be standing here,” Kokrak said.
Kokrak holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 13th to get in the mix and then made a 25-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole, the toughest at Memorial Park, to get within one shot. He hit wedge on the 115-yard 15th hole with a front pin to 6 feet to tie for the lead.
He had enough mud on his golf ball from rain earlier in the week that he chose to lay up on the par-5 16th, even though he could have reached with a mid-iron. Kokrak hit wedge to 5 feet for a fourth straight birdie.
Phil Mickelson birdied three of the final holes Sunday to win the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, and Bernhard Langer held on to win his sixth PGA Tour Champions season points title.
Men’s college basketball: Olivier Nkamhoua scored a career-high 23 points and Kennedy Chandler added 16 as No. 18 Tennessee beat East Tennessee State 94-62 on Sunday.
NBA: Anthony Davis had 34 points and 15 rebounds to help the Lakers beat the Spurs 114-106 Sunday. Talen Horton-Tucker scored 17 points in his season debut for the Lakers, and Carmelo Anthony and Wayne Ellington each had 15.
Women’s college basketball: Aliyah Matharu made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 5:06 to play and two more in the closing minutes, freshman Rori Harmon scored 21 points and No. 25 Texas jolted third-ranked Stanford 61-56 on Sunday.