Moore avoids mistakes, takes title
PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Taylor Moore delivered the clutch shots to move into contention, closed with a 4-under 67 and won the Valspar Championship on Sunday when he avoided the mistakes that cost Jordan Spieth and Adam Schenk.
In only his second year on the PGA Tour, the 29-year-old who grew up outside Oklahoma City is now headed to the Masters next month.
He was on the practice range preparing for a playoff and missed a wild finish on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook.
Spieth was tied for the lead when he sent his tee shot into the water on the 16th and managed to stay in the game by getting up-and-down from 163 yards to salvage bogey. On the par-3 17th, which yielded only two birdies all day, Spieth hit 4-iron to 6 feet — only to miss the birdie putt.
The real heartbreak belonged to Schenk, whose wife flew down to Florida for the final round a month before she is due with their first child. Schenk holed a 70-foot birdie putt on the 12th hole. He made tough par saves on the 16th and 17th holes to stay tied.
On the 18th, however, he pulled his tee shot to the left, chipped out, his third shot rolled onto the fringe 40 feet away. His par putt hit the hole, but hopped out.
LIV: Danny Lee birdied his final two holes for a 2-under 69 and then won LIV Golf Tucson on the second hole of a four-man playoff by making a 25foot birdie putt from off the 18th green for his first win in nearly eight years. Lee finished at 9-under 275 and got into the playoff with Carlos Ortiz (65), Brendan Steele (70) and Louis Oosthuizen (70).
Champions: Ernie Els shot a 6under 65 to win the Hoag Classic and deny Bernhard Langer a chance at setting the career victory mark on the PGA Tour Champions. Langer finished with a 2-over 73 and tied for seventh.
DP World Tour: Matthew Baldwin claimed his maiden title on the European tour in style by storming to a seven-shot victory at the SDC Championship in South Africa. Baldwin finished with a 4-under 68.