The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Eckroat prevails at Cognizant Classic for 1st PGA Tour win
Austin Eckroat waited a long time to become a winner on the PGA Tour. Another day didn’t hurt.
Eckroat got the first victory of his tour career Monday, topping Erik van Rooyen and Min Woo Lee by three shots to win the weather-delayed Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Among his prizes: $1.62 million — by far his biggest golf payday — along with tour status for two years and a trip to the Masters for the first time.
Eckroat shot a final round of 4-under 67, finishing at 17-under 267.
He said he was nervous Monday. He hid it well, never giving up the lead.
“This has always been my dream to win on the PGA Tour,” Eckroat told Golf Channel. “And just to win, I haven’t won since 2019 — it was a college event. It’s just been so long. I’m just so happy.”
He left PGA National on Sunday night when darkness stopped play with a one-stroke lead and was never caught. Back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th holes protected his lead, and a 12-footer for birdie on the par-4 16th pushed the edge out to three shots.
“I just kept telling myself, ‘I’ve put myself in this position for a reason,’” Eckroat said. “This is what I want to do.”
Eckroat laid up on the par-5 18th to protect his lead and take water out of play, knowing all he had to do was avoid disaster to finish off his first tour
win in 50 career starts. He made an easy par, sealing the win.
MOTORSPORTS Larson wins NASCAR race in Las Vegas
There’s a tradition at Hendrick Motorsports to ring the winning bell throughout the North Carolina shop after every NASCAR victory.
As motivation to have the best year of his career, Kyle Larson’s team decided to bring a bell on the road so avoid having to wait to return to Charlotte to celebrate every achievement he plans for this season.
The bell got its first ring late Sunday when Larson won his second consecutive race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to keep keep Chevrolet undefeated and give Rick Hendrick his second victory in the first three NASCAR Cup Series races of the season.
Hendrick Motorsports opened the year with William Byron winning the
Daytona 500.
“That bell will travel with us every week and we’ll be ringing it loud and proud,” Larson said.
Larson won for the third time in his career at Las Vegas, where in 2021 he got his first win driving for Hendrick following a nearly yearlong suspension in 2020. Larson also won in the No. 5 Chevy at Las Vegas last October in the playoffs.
Larson held off Tyler Reddick for his 24th career Cup victory. In a Toyota for 23XI Racing, Reddick chased Larson for the final several laps but could never find enough room to make a move for the pass. Larson’s margin of victory was 0.441 seconds over Reddick.
“I knew Tyler was going to be the guy to beat from the first stage. He was really fast there,” Larson said. “Cool to get a win here at Vegas again. Back-toback, swept all the stages again. Can’t ask for more than that.”
Reddick was extremely frustrated after finishing second and believed Larson as the leader controlled the race because of the rules of NASCAR’S new car.
“Kyle did a really good job there taking away pretty much every option I had there to close the gap,” Reddick said.
NHL New Jersey Devils fire head coach Ruff
The New Jersey Devils fired coach Lindy Ruff on Monday and named assistant Travis Green as the interim replacement. General manager Tom Fitzgerald made the surprising move with less than 30 games left in the NHL season. The Devils have lost five of seven to fall further out of playoff contention.
NBA Celtics rout Warriors, extend historic roll
The Boston Celtics won their 11th straight game on Sunday, a 140-88 rout of the Golden State Warriors, to improve to an Nba-best 4812 — six wins more than their closest pursuer. They are on pace for 65 wins, which would be the fourthmost in franchise history and the most since the 2008 team won an unprecedented 17th NBA championship.
The 52-point win over the longtime Western Conference power was the third-largest margin of victory in Celtics history. They are the first NBA team to record three 50-point wins in a season.