Landry blows big lead, then regroups to win
Andrew Landry regrouped to win the American Express in La Quinta (Riverside County) after blowing a sixstroke lead on the back nine Sunday.
Landry broke a tie with Abraham Ancer with a 7foot birdie putt on the par3 17th hole and made a 6footer on the par4 18th for a 5underpar 67 and a twostroke victory.
Landry won the proam event at PGA West two years after losing a playoff to Jon Rahm. The 32yearold Texan has two PGA Tour victories, also winning the 2018 Texas Open.
Trying to become the third Mexican winner in PGA Tour history and first since 1978, Ancer matched the Stadium Course record with a 63. Playing two groups ahead of Landry, Ancer birdied the par5 16th and the islandgreen 17th and parred the 18th.
After missing the cut in seven of his first eight starts this season, Landry appeared to be cruising to victory when he birdied the first three holes on the back nine to open the sixshot lead. He then bogeyed the next three holes, made a par on the 16th that felt like another bogey, and was tied when Ancer ran in a 25footer on 17.
Landry finished at 26under 262. He opened with a 66 on the Stadium Course, shot 64 in the second round at La Quinta Country Club and had a 65 on Saturday on PGA West’s Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course for a share of the thirdround lead with Scottie Scheffler — four strokes ahead of thirdplace Rickie Fowler.
The final round of the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., featured a little bit of everything. Clutch shots, bold play, lead changes, a few costly mistakes and even bonus golf. That is, everything but deciding a champion. Nasa Hataoka and Gaby Lopez matched par five times in a playoff at the 197yard 18th hole until it was too dark to continue. They will return at 8 a.m. EST on Monday at Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club to see who wins.
Lee Westwood secured his 25th European Tour win with victory at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Westwood, who had a oneshot overnight lead, has won in four different decades starting in the 1990s. The Englishman’s 5under finalround 67 gave him a twoshot margin over a chasing pack of France’s Victor Perez (63) and England’s Tommy Fleetwood (63) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (67), who all finished at 271.
Abel Gallegos, just 17, became the first Argentine to win the Latin American Amateur Championship when he rallied from a twoshot deficit with a 4under 67 and a fourshot victory at Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen,
Mexico. The victory gives Gallegos a spot in the Masters and the British Open this summer at Royal St. George’s.