Mcdowell gets back on the winning trail

Northern Ireland’s Graeme Mcdowell claimed his first title since 2015 with victory in the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship in the Dominican Republic.

Mcdowell had five birdies and two bogeys in a closing 69 to finish 18 under par, a shot ahead of Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes and American Chris Stroud.

The win gives the 39-yearold a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and lifted the former US Open champion from 257th in the world to inside the top 150. He said: “It’s been a rough few years. It’s been a grind. On the 16th green, I said to myself, ‘You’ve got to do something that’s tournament-winning’. The shot to 17 was tournament-winning level.”

In Texas, a year after being thrashed in the final, Kevin Kisner enjoyed a far happier experience at Austin Country Club by beating Matt Kuchar to win the WGC-DELL Technologies Match Play title.

Kisner, who ended the 10-match winning run of Open champion Francesco Molinari in the semi-finals, beat Kuchar 3&2 to win his third and biggest PGA Tour title.

Kisner, who lost 7&6 to Bubba Watson 12 months ago, told Sky Sports: “I’m relieved. It’s a long week, I played great and did the things I needed to do to win and that’s what you have to do in match play.

“I didn’t think Matt played his best, I don’t think either one of us did but I was just lucky enough to hole a few more putts.”

In California, Nasa Hataoka won the Kia Classic for her third victory in her last 16 LPGA Tour starts.

The 20-year-old Japanese player closed with a five-under 67 for a three-stroke victory over playing partner Inbee Park, top-ranked Sung Hyun Park, Jin Young Ko, Azahara Munoz and Danielle Kang.