Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Spanish wins for Rahm in Mexico and Arnaus on European tour
PUERTO VALLARTA, MEXICO » Jon Rahm pulled out of a four-way tie with a 12-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole and then held on with pars for a 2-under 69 and a oneshot victory Sunday in the Mexico Open.
Rahm won for the first time since the U.S. Open last summer at Torrey Pines.
Tony Finau and Brandon Wu each closed with a 63, while Kurt Kitayama birdied the final hole from a back bunker for a 68. They tied for second.
Staked to a two-shot lead going into the final round, he never trailed. But it was never easy.
Rahm’s had a one-shot lead after his lone bogey of the round on the tough par-4 10th.
Well ahead of him, Wu holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to join him at 16 under. Kitayama, playing in the final group with Rahm, got up-and-down from right of the green on the par-5 12th to tie. And then Finau went birdie-eagle-birdie to get in the mix and capped off his 63 with a birdie to make it a fourway tie.
Rahm never lost his patience. His chip left of the green on the par-5 14th raced 12 feet by the hole, but he hit his best putt of the round and made it for birdie for a one-shot lead. He made pars the rest of the way for his seventh PGA Tour title and his 14th worldwide.
Rahm finished at 17-under 267. EUROPEAN TOUR » Adri Arnaus of Spain captured his first European tour title
when he made up a sevenshot deficit with a 7-under 65 and won the Catalyunya Championship in a playoff with a par on the sixth extra hole.
Arnaus, who is from Barcelona in northeast Spain near Girona, caught overnight leader Oliver Bekker, who closed with a 72.
In the playoff, Arnaus and Becker made par on five trips to the 18th hole, but when they went to the 17th, Bekker’s bogey gave Arnaus the title.
The 27-year-old Arnaus had previously finished runner-up five times on the European tour. It was his third playoff in a span of seven months. Bekker was also seeking his first tour win.
This was the European tour’s first time at PGA Catalunya since the 2014 Spanish Open. The venue hosted European qualifying from 2008-16.
KORN FERRY TOUR » Harrison Endycott of Australia closed with an even-par 70 and won his first Korn Ferry Tour title with a fiveshot victory over Ben Taylor in the Huntsville Championship.
Endycott seized control of the tournament with a 64 in the third round and was never seriously challenged Sunday.
Taylor opened with two bogeys and had a double bogey on No. 8. But he began the back nine with four straight birdies and closed a 70. The runner-up finish moved Taylor to No. 10 in the points race for the 25 players who advance to the PGA Tour next season.
Endycott goes to No. 12 with a victory after a tough start to the year in which he had only one finish in the top 30. OTHER TOURS » Gabriella Then closed with a 5-under 67 for a two-shot victory
over Florida teenager Alexa Pano in the Garden City Charity Classic in Kansas. Then won for the first time on the Epson Tour . ... Yuki Inamori closed with 7-under 63 for a three-shot victory over Jung-Gon Hwang in The Crowns. Inamori won for the third time on the Japan Golf Tour and will move into the top 100 in the world, which likely gets him into the PGA Championship. Hwang shot 67 in his third start since returning from mandatory military service in South Korea . ... Former U.S. Women’s Open champion A Lim Kim closed with a 2-under 70 for a three-shot victory over Ga Young Lee in the KLPGA Championship. ... Former Oklahoma State star Maja Stark of Sweden had a 2-under 70 to complete a five-shot victory over Johanna Gustavsson of Sweden in the Women’s NSW Open in Australia.