GOLF Rahm outlasts Landry on 4th hole of playoff
Jon Rahm beat Andrew Landry with a 12-foot birdie putt on the fourth hole of a playoff Sunday in the CareerBuilder Challenge at La Quinta (Riverside County).
In fading light on the Stadium Course at PGA West, Rahm finished off Landry for his second PGA Tour title and fourth worldwide victory in a year. The 23-year-old Spaniard will jump from third to second in the world ranking behind Dustin Johnson.
“It’s hard to believe, to be honest, passing Jordan Spieth, three-time major champion,” Rahm said. “I only have two wins and he’s got 10-plus, right? I never thought I was going to be at this point in my life.”
Rahm overcame surprising par-5 problems in regulation to shoot 5-under-par 67. Landry, playing a group behind Rahm in the final threesome, forced the playoff with an 11-foot birdie putt on the water-guarded 18th for a 68. They finished at 22under 266.
“Tournaments like this build character,” Rahm said. “I’m just proud of myself to hit what’s probably my least favorite club, which is the 3-wood, three times in a row dead center on my line on 18 — four times if you include the regular play. To be honest, really happy the way it happened the way it did and really proud of the way I played. I hit a lot of bad putts today, hit a lot of edges, but lucky the one I needed to make went in.”
After Rahm made his birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole, Landry missed an 11-footer.
Rahm and Landry each missed chances to win on the first two extra trips down 18. Rahm’s 9-foot birdie try slid left on the first, and Landry’s 8footer went by to the right on the second. They missed long birdie tries on the third extra hole, the par-4 10th.
Rahm, an Arizona State alum, was second behind Johnson two weeks ago at Kapalua in his first start since winning the European Tour’s season-ending event in Dubai in November. Rahm will open his Torrey Pines title defense Thursday in San Diego.
Landry, 30, had his best career PGA Tour finish.
“I’ve been playing well all year, had a great season last year and I’m rolling it over right into this, into the fall and now starting the year,” Landry said. “Second-place finish, we’ll take it and move on next week to Torrey Pines.”
Adam Hadwin (68), Martin Piller (70) and John Huh (66) tied for third at 20-under, and Kevin Chappell (67) and Scott Piercy (70) were another stroke back. Singapore Open: Masters champion Sergio Garcia began his 20th year as a pro by closing with a 3-under 68 for a victory in the event sanctioned by the European Tour and Asian Tour. He won by five shots over Satoshi Kodaira (71) of Japan and Shaun Norris (70) of South Africa. European Tour: Tommy Fleetwood ran off five birdies on the back nine and closed with a 7-under 65 to defend his title in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Fleetwood, who won the Race to Dubai last year on the European Tour, won by two shots over Ross Fisher.