Henrik Stenson closes with 64 to win at Wyndham

GREENSBORO, N.C. » Henrik Stenson kept making birdies on the back nine Sunday at the Wyndham Championship. They added up to a tournament record — and his first victory of the year.

Stenson closed with a 6-under 64 for a one-stroke victory in the final event of the PGA Tour regular season.

The 2013 FedEx Cup champion finished at 22-under 258 at Sedgefield Country Club, breaking the course’s 72-hole record set by Carl Pettersson in 2008 and matched last year by Si Woo Kim.

The Swede earned $1,044,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points for his sixth win on tour and his first since the 2016 British Open.

“It’s certainly a good time to start firing,” Stenson said. “We know the kind of damage you can do in the playoffs . ... If you get hot and keep on playing well, you have a chance to challenge.”

Stenson said he left his driver in his locker all week — “he’s a little anxious to get out there and start getting some air time next week,” he quipped of the club — and certainly didn’t need it on the par-70 Sedgefield course.

For the second straight day, he had four birdies in a five-hole stretch of the back nine.

Ollie Schniederjans shot a 64 to finish second. Webb Simpson was 18 under after a 67.”

“I had to keep on making birdies,” Stenson said, “because Ollie was surely not backing down.

Stenson had three consecutive birdies on Nos. 15-17 — leaving a 20-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole about a foot short — after he and Schniederjans were both at 19 under.

Stenson’s 30-foot birdie putt on No. 17 moved him to 22 under.

He needed it, because Schniederjans kept the pressure on him. The 24-year-old former Georgia Tech player made a 40-foot birdie putt on No. 17 and added another birdie on the par-4 18th hole after placing his second shot 2 feet from the pin.

“I thought I had a two-shot cushion ... and as I walked over (to the 18th hole and) looked around, ‘Oh, OK, (Schniederjans) birdied it as well,” Stenson said. “So I better scramble a par here to get the win.”

With Schniederjans watching the television broadcast and hoping for a tie, Stenson rolled a 35foot birdie putt on No. 18 off the right edge of the cup, then made a 3-footer to end it.

“When I stuffed it (on No. 18), I thought that’s probably going to be a playoff,” Schniederjans said. “And he birdied 17 and got par on 18. Hat’s off to him — he had a great finish, too. Just one short.”

Low scores and tight leaderboards once again were the norm at Sedgefield. With seven holes left for the final pairing, four players — Stenson, Schniederjans, Ryan Armour and Kevin Na — shared the lead at 18 under.

“It was anyone’s tournament on the back nine,” Stenson said.

U.S. Amateur

LOS ANGELES » Doc Redman stood over a 60-foot eagle putt on the 35th hole of the U.S. Amateur final, his hand in his pocket as usual. One hole earlier, he missed a 4-footer to fall two holes behind with two to play, and his championship chances probably rested on this long, tricky shot.

And if the 19-year-old sophomore from Clemson felt even a bit of that pressure, Redman never showed it while he holed that daunting putt and made an incredible comeback to win.

“I didn’t even think about it, really,” Redman said. “All that was going through my head was about making the putt and putting a good stroke on it. Honestly, I was just (thinking), ‘You’re going to make this. You’re going to make this.’ And it worked out well.”

Redman rallied past Doug Ghim and won on the first extra hole Sunday, claiming the Havemeyer Trophy in the 117th edition of the Amateur.

After Redman gave away his own lead with eight holes to play, Ghim was on the verge of victory with two holes left in the two-round final at Riviera Country Club. But Redman capped his phenomenal putting day by making that 60-footer and following with a short, tricky birdie putt on the 36th hole to force overtime.