Weather pushes Cognizant Classic to Monday finish
Eckroat leads by 1 in final round
Austin Eckroat had a one-shot lead in the rainsoaked Cognizant Classic through seven holes when it was too dark to continue, forcing a Monday finish at PGA National for the first time since 2015.
Thunderstorms brought nearly 2 inches of rain in a hurry Sunday afternoon and forced everyone off the course for 3 1/2 hours.
Erik van Rooyen started with six straight birdies and shot 8-under 63. He finished at 14-under 270 and will have to wait to see if it’s enough.
Jake Knapp, the UCLA rookie coming off his first win last week in the Mexico Open, was 5 under through 15 holes and two shots behind Eckroat.
Shane Lowry and David Skinns started the day tied with Eckroat. Lowry was 1 over through five holes and three shots behind, while Skinns bogeyed two of his first three holes and was 2 over through five.
Niemann wins LIV Jeddah by 4 shots
Joaquin Niemann won his second LIV Golf title in three starts, closing with a 4-under 66 at LIV Golf Jeddah for a four-shot victory over Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.
Niemann now has three wins in the last three months, starting with the Australian Open victory in December that allowed him to rejoin the European tour and eventually put him on the path toward getting invited to the Masters.
No one got closer than two shots of Niemann in the final round at Royal Greens. Oosthuizen was the last challenger until a bogey on the 16th hole. He shot 67, while Schwartzel had a 68.
Anthony Kim, who had gone 12 years without competitive golf, had a 74 in his LIV debut and finished his week in last place, 33 shots out of the lead.
Crushers won the team competition.
Green takes HSBC with birdie on 18
Hannah Green birdied her final three holes, the last one a 30-foot putt that gave her a 5-under 67 and a one-shot victory over Celine Boutier in the HSBC Women’s World Championship.
Green finished at 13-under 275 in capturing her fourth LPGA Tour title.
Boutier (67), who had said Saturday she was attending Taylor Swift’s Singapore concert on the eve of the final round, seemed destined to win as she pulled two strokes clear in the final stages only for Green to produce some magic of her own to take the win.
Yuna Nishimura (66) matched the best round of the day and tied for third with Brooke Henderson (68), Mi Hyang Lee (67) and Nasa Hataoka (69).
Overnight leader Ayaka Furue of Japan closed with a 75 and finished six shots behind.