English, Kuchar romp to third Shootout crown

MIAMI: Americans Harris English and Matt Kuchar captured an unprecedented third title at the QBE Shootout on Sunday in record-shattering fashion.

Kuchar and English, who also took the 2013 and 2016 crowns, became the winningest partnership in the event’s history by uniting for a 12-under par 60 in the concluding fourball session at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida.

English and Kuchar made six birdies and an eagle in the last eight holes to finish on a tournament record 37-under 179 for 54 holes over three different formats and without spectators due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As a team, we crushed it this week,” English said. “You’ve got to putt well in all formats and we did that. Matt made a lot of clutch putts, especially on the first day.

“It felt like pretty easy golf out here. It was a lot of fun to play.”

They smashed their own lowscore record, 182 set in 2013, and won by nine strokes to break their own victory margin record, the old mark being seven shots from 2013.

“We’ve got an incredible record,” Kuchar said. “We’re going to have a hard time catching that record.”

Defending champions Rory Sabbatini of Slovakia and Kevin Tway of the United States, Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes and American Lanto Griffin and the US duo of Sean O’Hair and Kevin Tway shared second, all on 188.

English and Kuchar began the final round with a fivestroke lead after shooting a 61 in Saturday’s modified alternate shot format.

“They’ve done an extremely good job,” two-time majorwinning host Greg Norman said of Kuchar and English.