Jaeger holds off Scheffler for first U.S. PGA Tour title
Germany’s Stephan Jaeger, South Africa’s Retief Goosen, Japan’s Keita Nakajima and top American female golfer Nelly Korda all excelled over the weekend.
Jaeger held off world number one Scottie Scheffler down the stretch to win his first U.S. PGA Tour title at the Houston Open.
Jaeger took the solo lead at 12-under with his fourth birdie of the day at the ninth, then parred all nine holes on the back nine to emerge with the victory on 12-under 268.
“It feels amazing,” Jaeger said. “I couldn’t have dreamed up a better week to do it.”
Scheffler, playing in the last group with Jaeger, responded to a bogey at the demanding par-three 15th with a birdie at 16, but he missed a five-and-a-half-foot birdie putt at 18 that would have forced a playoff.
He settled for a two-under par 68 that put him in a five-way tie for second alongside Taylor Moore, Tony Finau, Belgian Thomas Detry and Argentina’s Alejandro Tosti.
Tosti was 12-under after a birdie at 16, but closed with a bogey at 18.
Scheffler was trying to become the first player since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win three consecutive tour starts.
A championship dry spell came to an end as South African Goosen shot a final-round, 3-under 69 to win the Galleri Classic at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California on the Seniors Tour.
Goosen, a World Golf Hall of Famer, has just two victories to his name on the PGA Tour Champions and none since March 2022 at the Hoag Classic. Before that, Goosen won at the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship in 2019.
Beyond that, it had been five runner-up finishes and 21 top-five honours, but no other hardware.
Goosen, who finished the tournament at 13-under 203 amid rough, rainy conditions, said he “was just hanging in”.
“I’m glad it flipped my way,” Goosen said. “Yeah, it was a really bad second shot, the ball a little bit above my feet and the ball was sitting up so nicely.
“I was in between a five [iron] and a four and I thought I’ll just hit a smooth four. I thought Steve was going to lay up and just go from there. When he hit in the water, it was a bit of a shock.”
Nakajima cruised to a wire-towire victory at the Indian Open to lift his maiden DP World Tour title by four strokes.
Nakajima (23) finished with a 17-under par total of 271 with fellow Indian Veer Ahlawat, Sweden’s Sebastian Soderberg and American Johannes Veerman sharing second on 13-under.
The former amateur world number one led after every round at the DLF Golf and Country Club near New Delhi and had a four-stroke cushion over Malaysia’s Gavin Green starting the final day.
“It feels amazing,” said Nakajima, who became the fifth Japanese player to win on the European-based circuit.
Women’s world number one Korda marched to her third victory in three LPGA tour starts, firing seven birdies in a flawless seven-under par 65 to win the Ford Championship in Arizona by two strokes.
Korda became the first LPGA pro to win three consecutive starts since Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn in 2016. She’s two shy of matching the LPGA record of five consecutive victories, first accomplished by Nancy Lopez in 1978 and matched by Annika Sorenstam in 2004-05.
Korda’s 20-under par total of 268 at Seville Golf and Country Club in suburban Phoenix gave her a two-shot triumph over Australian rookie Hira Naveed, who had seven birdies in her six-under 66.
“Honestly feels like a blur,” Korda said, adding that as the hype over her potential hat-trick grew she tried to “stay very present”.