Horschel perseveres in Match Play final
Billy Horschel had just enough left in the tank to win the Match Play event Sunday with plenty of help from Scottie Scheffler in a sloppy end to the longest week in golf.
Horschel made only one birdie in the championship match, chipping in from 40 feet on the fifth hole, and left the big mistakes to the 24yearold in winning 2 and 1 in Austin, Texas.
Horschel, who had not reached the weekend in four previous appearances at this World Golf Championship, won six of the seven matches over 122 holes he played at Austin Country Club. He won for the sixth time on the PGA Tour, and his fifth individual title — this one coming with a $1.82 million payday.
“It was one of those days where I didn’t play very good,” Horschel said, still able to smile because of the outcome. “I was just grinding it out.”
It ended a great run for Scheffler, a Texas graduate who had to beat three Match Play champions and two players from the top 10 in the world to reach the championship match.
He had the support of the Austin crowd that occasionally shouted out, “Hook ’em,” and Scheffler obliged.
He pulled a tee shot on the par5 sixth that required him to take a penalty drop away from the boundary fence. He pulled his approach on the par5 12th into the water. He hooked another drive off the twostory hospitality tent left of the 15th fairway. Through it all, he managed to stay in the match.
Matt Kuchar won the consolation match over Victor Perez of France. Kuchar, trying to tie Tiger Woods’ record with a fourth appearance in the championship match, didn’t make a putt longer than 3 feet, 6 inches in his semifinal loss to Scheffler. LPGA: Inbee Park shot 2under 70 to finish at 14under for a fivestroke victory over Lexi Thompson and Amy Olson in the Kia Classic in Carlsbad (San Diego County).
After making three birdies in a fourhole stretch around the turn, Park bogeyed the 12th and 13th, then got the two strokes back with a 40foot eagle putt on the short par4 16th. She threeputted the 18th for a bogey.
Park gave the tour its first international winner of the year, after Americans Jessica and Nelly Korda and Austin Ernst won the first three tournaments.
“It was a great week this week,” said Park, who earned $270,000. “It was my first week back out in three months or so, and I played so good. I mean, I couldn’t believe how I was doing out there this week.”
PGA Tour: In Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Joel Dahmen closed with a 2under 70 to finish at 12under and win the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship by one shot over Sam Ryder and Rafael Campos for his first PGA Tour victory. Dahmen earned $540,000. “I was on cruise control today,” Dahmen said. “It’s really hard to win golf tournaments. I knew it was hard, but I can’t believe how hard it actually is.”