Steele repeats as champ at Napa’s Safeway Open
Brendan Steele is getting accustomed to fast starts and he likes it.
Steele won the PGA Tour’s season-opening Safeway Open for the second straight year, closing with a 3-under 69 in windy conditions Sunday for a two-stroke victory over Tony Finau.
“I’m getting pretty spoiled winning the first event of the year twice,” said Steele, the 34-year-old from the Southern California mountain town of Idyllwild. “This place is so great to me.”
Phil Mickelson and Chesson Hadley finished three shots behind.
Steele finished at 14-under 273 for his third PGA Tour title. He’s 33 under in his past eight rounds at the event. Steele also won the 2011 Valero Texas Open.
Two strokes behind surprising leader Tyler Duncan entering the day at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, Steele birdied the par-5 16th and 18th holes holing a 3-footer on 18.
“The greens were firming up in the afternoon,” Steele said. “I knew the weather was going to be windy and it seems Sunday is always the hardest day on the PGA Tour for whatever reason.”
Finau, whose lone PGA Tour victory came in the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, moved into a tie for the lead with Steele at 14 under with a birdie on the par-4 13th.
But he double-bogeyed the par-4 14th. After pars on 16 and 17, Finau had a 40foot eagle putt on the 18th and settled for birdie and a 69.
“I was happy the way I hung in there; I didn’t hit a lot of quality shots off the tee coming in like I needed to,” Finau said.
Mickelson birdied the 16th from 10 feet to move within one shot of Steele. But Mickelson bogeyed the 17th before birdieing the 18th for a 70.
LPGA
Cristie Kerr completed a wire-to-wire victory in the Lacoste Ladies Open de France for her first Ladies European Tour title.
The 39-year-old American closed with a 1-under 69 at Golf de Chantaco for a four-stroke victory over China’s Xi Yu Lin. Kerr opened with rounds of 62, 64 and 69 to take a nine-stroke lead into the final round. She finished at 17-under 263.
European Tour
Tyrrell Hatton retained his title at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship after a final round at St. Andrews in which Ross Fisher shot a course-record 61 at the home of golf.
On a calm day on the storied Old Course, even a bogey-free round by Fisher containing 11 birdies could not reel in overnight leader Hatton, who shot 6-under 66 for a three-stroke victory over his fellow Englishman.
Rory McIlroy shot evenpar 72 to finish tied for 63rd on 4 under par, meaning he ended a season without a victory for only the second time in his professional career.