Bryan’s breakthrough comes in home state
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Wesley Bryan remembers pestering players with a lot of crazy questions at Harbour Town Golf Links as he followed father George III’s only appearance at the RBC Heritage in 2004.
“I was probably the most annoying 14-year-old there was,” Bryan said.
Once a pesky teen, Bryan’s now a PGA Tour winner.
He rallied from four shots down Sunday to earn the breakthrough victory in his home state, closing with a 4-under-par 67 for a onestroke victory over Luke Donald.
Bryan, who played at the University of South Carolina and was a three-time winner on the Web.com Tour last year, moved into contention with four consecutive birdies on the front nine. He took the lead with a birdie on the 15th hole and finished at 13-under 271.
He earned $1.17 million, a tour exemption through the 2018-19 season and a spot in the 2018 Masters. While excited to win, Bryan believes it’s just a stepping stone to bigger dreams he has had since playing the game as a child.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t really change anything other than I now have one PGA Tour victory,” he said. “There are a lot of guys that have just one PGA Tour victory. My one goal is to get number two at this point.”
Donald shot 68 in his latest close call at Harbour Town Golf Links — it was his fifth second-place finish here since 2009. Patrick Cantlay (67), Ollie Schniederjans (68) and William McGirt (69) finished two strokes behind Bryan as they tied for third.
The 27-year-old Bryan tapped in for par on the closing lighthouse hole to become the first South Carolinian to win the state’s lone PGA Tour event. He once was largely known as a YouTube sensation, with Bryan and brother George IV, another Gamecocks golf- er, pulling off often unbelieveable trick shots — like chipping the ball 20 yards to a waiting Bryan brother to belt away before it hit the ground.
There were no tricks to this round. Bryan got it going with his front-nine run, making birdie on the
fourth, fifth, sixth and seven holes. After Bryan moved in front on the 15th, he sweated out three straight two-putt pars.
The 23-year-old Schniederjans, five shots behind when the round began, made it all up and was out front with five front-nine birdies. Competing for his first PGA Tour win at the tricky Pete Dye layout proved too daunting for the inexperienced Schniederjans. He missed birdie attempts on the 13th, 14th and 15th holes, then failed to get in for par after hitting into the bunker on the par-3 17th.
Donald appeared done after driving out of bounds on the second hole and leaving the birdie-friendly par-5 with a double-bogey seven. Then he made five birdies in a 10-hole stretch to tie for the lead before Bryan moved in front.
DULUTH, Ga. — Stephen Ames won the Mitsubishi Electric Classic for his first PGA Tour Champions victory, easily holding off Bernhard Langer at TPC Sugarloaf.
The 52-year-old Ames closed with a 6-under 66 for a fourstroke victory over Langer. Ames opened with rounds of 67 and 68 to take a one-stroke lead over five players into the final round.
Making his 49th start on the 50-and-older tour, Ames had six birdies in his bogey-free round to finish at 15-under 201. He won for the first time since taking the 2009 Children’s Miracle Network Classic for the last of his four PGA Tour titles.
Ames is the 11th golfer to win on the PGA Tour Champions, PGA Tour and Web.com Tour.
Langer, a 30-time winner on the senior tour, shot a 65 to jump from a tie for 21st. Fred
Ames completes tour wins trifecta
Molinari takes playoff to win, earns his first Euro title in seven years
Funk (66), David Frost (68) and Brandt Jobe (70) tied for third at 10 under.
Kerr sets record in LPGA Lotte Championship
RABAT, Morocco — Edoardo Molinari won the Trophee Hassan II by beating Paul Dunne on the first playoff hole, earning his first European Tour title in seven years.
Molinari sank a two-foot par putt after Dunne missed his putt for par from six feet. Molinari’s closing 5-under 68 helped him join Dunne (72) at the top of the leaderboard at 9-under 283.
Molinari’s previous win was the Johnnie Walker Championship in 2010. The Trophee Hassan was his third tour title.
England’s Paul Waring (70) was third at the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam club at 8 under.
KAPOLEI, Hawaii — Cristie Kerr won the LPGA Lotte Championship for her 19th tour title, closing with a 6-under 66 for a three-stroke victory late Saturday.
The 39-year-old American broke the tournament record at 20-under 268 a day after shooting 62 at Ko Olina to match the event mark. She earned $300,000 to top $18 million in her career.
Kerr hadn’t won in 30 starts since the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in 2015. She was a pedestrian 4 under halfway through this tournament, then made a made a big move by making birdie on seven of her last eight holes Friday.
Su-Yeon Jang, who played on a sponsor’s invitation and led after the second and third rounds, had a 70 Saturday to drop into a tie for second with top-ranked Lydia Ko (64) and In Gee Chun (67).