Golf Wrapup MURRAY HOLDS ON FOR FIRST PGA TOUR TITLE
OPELIKA, ALA.» Rookie Grayson Murray won the Barbasol Championship on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title, holing a 5-foot par putt on the final hole for a one-stroke victory.
Murray closed with a 3-under-par 68 to edge Chad Collins on Grand National’s Lake Course.
The 23-year-old former Wake Forest and Arizona State player set up the winning par with a putt of more than 40 feet from below the hole. He finished at 21-under 263.
“I was in control,” said Murray, who nabbed $630,000 for the win. “I didn’t get out of my game plan once. I was going to let them make the mistakes instead of myself. I was going to make them have to birdie the last hole, or the last few holes. I was playing for par on 17 and 18. I knew if I parred those, they’d have to do something special to beat me.”
Murray missed the cut the previous week at the John Deere Classic and arrived in Alabama on a Sunday to prepare. It paid off, the win securing him a spot in the PGA Championship in his home state of North Carolina though not a berth in the Masters.
Kim takes Marathon.
SYLVANIA, OHIO» InKyung Kim rallied to win the Marathon Classic to become the second twotime winner this season on the LPGA Tour.
Two strokes behind 18year-old Nelly Korda entering the round, Kim birdied six of the first nine holes and finished with an 8-under 63 for a fourstroke victory over Lexi Thompson.
After playing the front nine in 6-under 28, the 29-year-old Kim added birdies on Nos. 15 and 16. She finished at 21-under 263 at Highland Meadows.
Thompson closed with a 66 for her fifth runner-up finish of the year.
Kaye closes on No. 18 to win Colorado Open.
Jonathan Kaye shot a 6under 66 to tie the scoring record and win the $100,000 first-place prize at the 53rd CoBank Colorado Open at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club.
The Boulder resident has won two PGA Tour events and has $11 million in career earnings between Colorado Open victories. His eight birdies helped him be one shot better than runner-up Jacob Lestishen of Lone Tree.
Both were tied at 21under after Lestishen eagled the par-4 14th with a greenside chip-in. Kaye, in the group behind Lestishen, also birdied the 14th to take back the lead. Lestishen then tied it at 22-under with a birdie at 15, but Kaye’s birdie at the difficult par-5 18th solidified his victory, tying the yearold, all-time tournament record of 23-under 265 set by champion Neil Johnson, who tied for third at 19under this year.