English wins eight-hole playoff to take PGA Travelers title
NEW YORK: Harris English rolled in a 20-foot birdie put on the eighth playoff hole on Sunday to defeat fellow American Kramer Hickok and win the US PGA Travelers Championship.
The intense drama matched the second-longest playoff in US PGA history as each player delivered seven playoff pars before English capped the spectacle in the twilight for his fourth career tour title.
“This was awesome,” English said. “The fans were keeping us in it. Hats off to Kramer. What a competitor.
English, ranked 19th, won the 2013 St. Jude and Mayakoba Classics and snapped his win drought at January’s Tournament of Champions -- qualifying under revamped Covid-19 rules thanks to making the 2020 Tour Championship.
Hickok, ranked 331st, sank a birdie put from just inside nine feet on the 18th hole in regulation to shoot a three-under par 67 and match English on 13-under 267 ater 72 holes at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut.
Hickok, denied his first PGA title, and English went to the 18th for the fourth time for the sixth extra hole.
English blasted from a fairway bunker to just outside six feet of the cup while Hickok’s approach went just off the green. Hickok rolled his put 20 feet past the hole but made the comeback put for par as the crowd roared and chanted his name.
Meanwhile, Nelly Korda won the Women’s PGA Championship on Sunday to capture her first major title and become the first American since 2014 to seize the world number one ranking.
The 22-year-old daughter of retired Czech tennis star Petr Korda made two eagles in outdueling compatriot Lizete Salas down the stretch for a three-stroke triumph.
Korda fired a four-under-par 68 to finish 72 holes on 19-under 269 at Atlanta Athletic Club with Salas on 272 ater a closing 71.
She will jump from third to first in Monday’s new rankings, overtaking South Korea’s number one Ko Jin-young and second-ranked Park In-bee.
Korda will become the first American atop the rankings since Stacy Lewis in October 2014 and only the third US player atop the list since it began in 2006 ater Lewis and Cristie Kerr.
Korda became the first American to win a major women’s golf title since Angela Stafford at the 2018 Evian.
South Korea’s Kim Hyo-joo and Italy’s Giulia Molinaro shared a distant third on 278 with Thailand’s Paty Tavatanakit and American Danielle Kang sharing fith on 280.
Korda claimed her third LPGA victory of the year ater Boca Rio in February and last week at the LPGA Meijer Classic.
Salas, whose only LPGA victory came in 2014 at Kingsmill, matched her best major showing, a runner-up effort at the 2019 Women’s British Open.