Masterful for Malnati
Victory means Augusta
Peter Malnati got a great break with the tournament on the line and followed that with an even better shot, making a late birdie on his way to a 4-under 67 to win the Valspar Championship on Sunday in Palm Harbor, Fla., and earn his first trip to the Masters.
Malnati tapped in that yellow golf ball for par on the final hole for only his second PGA Tour victory. He won by two over Cameron Young, who made it easier on him by making bogey on the final hole for a 68. Young has seven runner-up finishes without a win.
On a wild day of rallies and meltdowns, it came down to Malnati and Young playing a group apart as they headed into the tough finishing stretch at Innisbrook known as the “Snake Pit.”
Malnati's approach on the 16th went long and left into gnarly rough some 50 feet from the pin, leaving him a tough chip to try to save par and stay tied. But his foot was on a sprinkler head, which entitled him to a free drop. With the extra club length, he was able to drop it on the fringe and use putter, which he sent down to short range for par.
On the par-3 17 th into wind, Malnati hit a laser to 6 feet and made birdie to take the lead. Up ahead, Young hit his drive well left and did well to hammer a gap wedge over the trees and onto the green, 50 feet away. He lagged it about 10 feet short and missed the par putt.
Malnati found a fairway bunker on the 18th, but hit that on the green for a simple two-putt to finish at 12-under 272, his first victory since the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2015.
More than the $1,512,000 from winning, Malnati goes to the Masters for the first time and gets a two-year exemption. He also is assured of getting into the remaining four $20 million signature events without any help.
Malnati is one of six player-directors on the PGA Tour board, and he was singled out for criticism when he received a sponsor exemption — along with two other board members — to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Mackenzie Hughes of Canada (70) and PGA Tour rookie Chandler Phillips (69) tied for third. They were among five players who had at least a share of the lead in the final round at Innisbrook.
LPGA — Nelly Korda made bogey on her final two holes to fall into a playoff and atoned for it quickly, making a 12-foot birdie putt to beat Ryann O'Toole in the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship and return to No. 1 in the world. Korda, who closed with a 2-under 69 in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., won for the second time this year, both of them involving surprising collapses and amazing revivals. She won the Drive On Championship in Florida in January by dropping four shots in three holes on the back nine, only to rally with an eagle-birdie finish to beat Lydia Ko. O'Toole holed a 20-foot par putt on the 18th for a 66, and that looked to be good only for second place. But then Korda came up short of the par-3 17th and missed a 6-foot par putt, and she made another bogey on the 18th. European — Jesper Svensson won his first European Tour event after beating Kiradech Aphibarnrat in a playoff at the Singapore Classic. Svensson tapped in for par at the par-5 18th and the win at the third playoff hole after Aphibarnrat could only make bogey after his third shot rolled off the green and down the slope at the back at the Laguna National Golf Resort Club. The Swedish player shot a 9-under-par 63 in the final round to match the course record.