Kim wins 2nd Shriners title this season
Tom Kim now has something in common with Byron Nelson as the only players to have won the same PGA Tour event twice in the same season.
Kim successfully defended his title Sunday in the Shriners Children's Open when he closed with a 5-under 66 to emerge from a pack of a dozen players who had a chance in the final hour. Kim wound up winning by one shot over Adam Hadwin, who birded the final hole for a 67.
Kim now has three PGA Tour titles in the past 15 months, at 21 the youngest player since Tiger Woods in 1997 to have three tour wins.
“I really felt confident in myself,” Kim said. “I knew that if I did me I was going to be able to do it. I'm stoked to get this one.”
He won in Las Vegas a year ago, beating Patrick Cantlay in a playoff at the TPC Summerlin, when the Shiners Children's Open was early in the season. Now, the Las Vegas event is still part of the same season because the PGA Tour goes to a calendar season starting in 2024.
Nelson won the San Francisco Open in January 1944, and the same tournament in December of 1944, both times at Harding Park.
This one was up for grabs until Kim seized control on the par-5 16th.
With an hour left in the tournament, there was a six-way tie for the lead and 12 players were separated by a single shot. The key stretch at the TPC Summerlin was holes No. 13 through No. 16, which ranked as four of the five easiest holes in the final round.
Taylor Pendrith was tied for the lead with a birdie on the 13th, but had to settle for pars the rest of that stretch. K.H. Lee made all pars.
Then, it became a twoman race between Kim and Hadwin, playing in the final group with Kim holding a one-shot advantage.
Both birdied the 13th, Hadwin with a 35-foot birdie putt that rimmed all the way around the cup before dropping. Both birdied the reachable par-4 15th, Kim with a tough up-and-down and birdie putt from 12 feet, Hadwin narrowly missing a 25foot eagle attempt.
It turned on the par-5 16th. Kim hit to the fat of the green in two, 50 feet away for eagle. Hadwin knew he missed his shot right after contact and it came up well short and into the water. Hadwin missed a 6-foot par putt after his penalty drop, and Kim three-putted — he had to make a 5-footer on his third one — for par.
That gave Kim a twoshot lead with two to play, and he closed with solid pars. Kim finished at 20-under 264.
Eric Cole boosted his bid to be PGA Tour rookie of the year by closing with a 62 to finish two behind, along with Alex Noren (65), J.T. Poston (66) and Pendrith (67). Pendrith came into Las Vegas at No. 123 in the FedEx Cup and was projected to move to No. 90, all but assuring a full card for 2024.
• American Solheim Cup player Angel Yin defeated top-ranked Lilia Vu on the first playoff hole to win the LPGA Shanghai tournament for her first tour win.
Both Yin and Vu finished at 14-under 274 on the Qizhong Garden Golf Club course forcing a playoff, where Yin made a birdie at the par-4 18th after Vu had narrowly missed her 20-foot birdie putt.
It was 25-year-old Yin's first victory in her 159th start and she shared a warm embrace with compatriot Vu on her breakthrough win.
“It's not easy to win. (I'm) just very grateful,” Yin said. “Honestly, 18 that bunker where I was in, anything could have happened, but I was very fortunate to have a very good lie and was able to hit a good shot and everything played out the way it played out.
“It's been a special week.”
Yin was tied with Maja Stark for the overnight lead at 12 under and on Sunday shot a 70, with three birdies and a lone bogey.
Vu shot a 4-under 68, with six birdies and two bogeys, and was the clubhouse leader at 14-under, until Yin birdied the par-5 17th and then made par on the final hole to force a playoff.
• Brooks Koepka held it together at the end for a 2-under 68 and defended his title at LIV Golf-Jeddah with a birdie on the second playoff hole to beat Talor Gooch on a day when both had reason to celebrate.
Koepka had to birdie two of his last three holes to finish at 14-under 196 and tie with Gooch, who closed with a 62. With his playoff loss, Gooch moved past Cameron Smith and won the season points title and the $18 million bonus.
Koepka not only won $4 million from the tournament, his victory bumped Bryson DeChambeau out of the top three in the season standings. Koepka picked up an additional $4 million for finishing third in the points race.
DeChambeau fell back with a 70. Smith had a 66 and tied for 24th.
The LIV Golf League wraps up its second season next week at Doral in South Florida with the team championship.
Koepka ends his year with two LIV Golf titles, along with his fifth major at the PGA Championship. He was the only LIV player to get picked for the Ryder Cup team.
• Rod Pampling of Australia had to play 33 holes Sunday in the rain-delayed SAS Championship and it was worth every step when he finished off a 68 and then closed with a 5-under 67 for his second career PGA Tour Champions title.
The SAS Championship was the final tournament before the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs begin for the top 72 players. Pampling's victory in Cary, N.C., moved him up 13 spots to No. 17.
David Duval shot 71 and tied for 11th, just enough for him to move up seven spots and finish at No. 71 in the Schwab Cup to qualify for the postseason.
Pampling finished with a bogey for a two-shot victory over Steven Alker, who moved up to No. 2 in the standings behind Steve Stricker.
• Matthieu Pavon broke through with his first European tour victory at a place close to home for him, fending off an early rally by Jon Rahm and a late charge by Marcel Siem to win the Spanish Open in Madrid by four shots.
The Frenchman closed with a 7-under 64 to finish at 23 under for the tournament in an emotional wireto-wire victory in a country where his father used to play soccer professionally and in a city where his grandfather was born.
“He is up there, so I think he will be very proud of me,” Pavon said, pausing to wipe away tears. “A part of my heart is here in Spain. My grandfather was from here, lived in France because of (former dictator Gen. Francisco) Franco, and I just really thought about him on the course today and it was really hard to keep the tears inside, but now I can just let them go a little bit.”
Pavon, runner-up to Rahm last year in the Spanish capital, held off secondplace Zander Lombard (64).
Hurkacz and Pegula earn Asian tour titles
Hubert Hurkacz claimed his second Masters title in a dramatic final at the Shanghai Masters, saving a match point before prevailing 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8) against Andrey Rublev.
Like he did in his impressive semifinal win over Sebastian Korda, the Polish player's serve was again his strike weapon as he sent down 21 aces and won more than 80% of his first-serve points.
The 26-year-old has now won seven tour-level titles, with his triumph in Shanghai joining his Masters title win at Miami in 2021.
• Jessica Pegula beat Yuan Yue 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the Korea Open in Seoul for the fourth title of her career.
The top-seeded Pegula dropped only one set through the tournament and becomes the first American since Venus Williams in 2007 to win the title in Seoul.
“My mom is Korean and she was adopted from here so it's really special to be able to win here,” Pegula said. “In the last few years, as my ranking has gone up, I've definitely felt so much more support from the fans, a lot more than I expected coming back here from five years ago. So it's really special.”
• Leylah Fernandez rallied from a set down to defeat Katerina Siniakova 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 and win the Hong Kong Open for her first title in 19 months.
It is the third title of the 21-year-old Canadian's career and first since winning at Monterrey in March 2022. After the win, she will also move back inside the top 50 in the rankings next week.
“We had a very, very hard past couple of years,” Fernandez said. “My family, my parents, my coach, and my performance coach stayed by my side.
“They motivated me to keep going and the hard work is paying off. Hopefully, we can keep going this way.”
• Chinese No. 1 Zheng Qinwen rallied to beat seventh-seeded Barbora Krejcikova 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 to win the Zhengzhou (China) Open and her second career title.
The 24th-ranked Zheng made the decisive break in the ninth game of the decider and then calmly held serve to claim her second title of the year after also winning at Palermo.