Lee achieves best result in nearly two years

WELLINGTON: New Zealand No 1 Danny Lee achieved his best result on the PGA Tour for nearly two years yesterday, sharing third place at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut.

Lee closed with a 3under 67 to complete a consistent week. Rounds of 68, 67, 68 and 67 left him 10under and two strokes short of joining Americans Jordan Spieth and Daniel Berger in a playoff to decide the title.

World No 6 Spieth (23) won by holing a bunker shot at the first extra hole to become the secondyoungest player in the modern era behind Tiger Woods to post 10 PGA Tour victories.

Lee began the day sharing seventh but charged into contention with four birdies on his front nine, including three in a row from holes seven to nine.

However, he could not continue his momentum, parring a succession of holes before dropping a shot on the 14th hole and regaining it on the 15th.

It is the third time Lee has finished third in a nineyear career on the PGA Tour.

He has had two runnerup finishes and a lone win, at The Greenbier Classic in July 2015.

The 26yearold’s world rank ing should get a boost beyond its current 99th, while his tour points ranking is projected to climb from 85th to 51st.

Ryan Fox completed a third straight top30 finish on the European Tour yesterday, putting a secondround disaster in Munich behind him.

New Zealander Fox was 26th at the BMW International Open after closing with rounds of 68 and 70 over the weekend to finish on 7under, 10 strokes behind Argentine winner Andres Romero. A triplebogey eight midway through his second round was a major setback for Fox, who carded 20 birdies in the tournament and unleashed a muchimproved putting display.

Lydia Ko slipped down the world rankings to third after finishing in a disappointing share of 25th place at the LPGA tournament in Rogers, Arkansas, yesterday.

The 20yearold New Zealander never really recovered from her openinground 70, although she eased up the leaderboard from 53rd place with a secondround 4under 67. Her finalround 68 included five birdies offset by two bogeys, leaving her 10 strokes behind winner So Yeon Ryu, of South Korea. — NZN