J.B. Holmes rallies from a four-shot deficit to win the Genesis Open in L.A.
LOS ANGELES — J.B.
Holmes rallied from a four-shot deficit in the final round and won a marathon finish in the Genesis Open on Sunday for his first victory in three years and a trip back to the Masters.
Holmes closed with a 1-under-par 70, and that was enough to overcome
Justin Thomas, who three-putted three times on the back nine and shot a 75.
They played 34 holes because of a seven-hour rain delayed at the start of the week, and they got a wild shift in weather from sunshine in the morning to complete 16 holes of the third round, brief rain when they teed off in the final round and wicked wind that made it tough to hole putts.
The tournament shifted on the 13th hole when Holmes made a 12-foot par putt. Thomas missed his 8-foot par putt and then lipped out from just under 3 feet for double bogey to fall one shot behind. He never caught up.
Tiger Woods shot 65 in the morning and 72 in the afternoon and tied for 15th.
In other golf news: • Miguel Angel Jimenez won the Chubb Classic for his seventh PGA Tour Champions title, beating
Bernhard Langer and Olin Browne with a 5-foot par putt on the first hole of a playoff. Jimenez closed with a 5-under 66 at The Classics at Lely Resort in Naples, Fla., to match Langer (68) and Browne (66) at 13-under 200.
• Nelly Korda added to her family's impressive sports pedigree Down Under with a victory in the Women's Australian Open. Korda, who led by three strokes after the third round, shot a 5-under 67 at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, finishing with a 17-under total of 271. Defending champion Jin
Young Ko was second after a 64. Korda's father
Petr was an Australian Open men's tennis champion, winning the tournament in 1998. Sister Jessica won the Australian Open golf title seven years ago. And her tennis-playing brother Sebastian won the Australian Open boys singles title last year.
• Memorial High School senior William Moll shot a second consecutive 69 to close within one shot of leader Jackson Van Paris of Pinehurst, N.C., after two rounds of the AJGA Simplify Boys Championship at The Woodlands. Both Moll and Paris will play collegiately at Vanderbilt. Van Paris had a bogey-free 68 at The Club at Carlton Woods. Van Paris is at 7-under-par 137 entering Monday’s final round in one of the strongest fields in junior golf. Moll is at 138 after 36 holes over the Fazio Course. Sharing second with Moll at 6 under are Canon Claycomb of Bowling Green, Ky., and Gordon Sargent of Birmingham, Ala., who shot a 66.
Hirscher again reigns in slalom
If this was to be Marcel Hirscher’s last race at the Alpine skiing world championships, the Austrian great sure put on a show.
Hirscher produced what he described as one of the best runs of his trophyladen 12-year career, allowing him to coast to victory in the second leg of the slalom and lead an Austrian 1-2-3 in the final race of the two-week championships at Are, Sweden.
It was a third world title in the slalom, matching the record of the great
Ingemar Stenmark .It was his seventh career gold at the worlds, tying the men’s record with compatriot Toni Sailer from the late 1950s.
“It is unbelievable,” Hirscher said, somewhat tantalizingly, “after 2013, 2017, now ’19, maybe my last world champs, to finally get to have another gold medal.”
Hirscher keeps getting asked how long he will continue his reign as the most successful male ski racer of this generation. He is on 68 World Cup wins — 18 off the record of Stenmark — and next month he could win his eighth consecutive overall World Cup title.
Add the seven world golds — as part of a collection of nine world medals — and two Olympic gold medals, and Hirscher can retire a happy man. Whenever that may be.
Wawrinka falls short in final
Three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka’s rebuilt knee couldn’t quite carry him to the title at Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Wawrinka lost his first final since his comeback a year ago from left knee surgeries, succumbing 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 to Gael Monfils of France at the ABN AMRO World Tournament.
The unseeded Wawrinka reached the final by beating top-seeded Kei
Nishikori in three sets. Wawrinka was going for his 17th career title and second in Rotterdam, after winning in 2015. It was his first final since the 2017 French Open, where he previously met Monfils in the fourth round.
Canadian women put U.S. on ice
Brianne Jenner and Blayre Turnbull scored, and Shannon Szabados made 38 saves as Canada beat the United States 2-0 at Detroit to win the inaugural Rivalry Series.
The Americans generated a lot of offense, especially during goal-mouth scrambles during a 21-shot second period and in the final minutes.
The Americans won the opener 1-0 on Tuesday, and Canada evened the three-game series with a 4-3 victory Thursday.
The Canadians beat their rivals nearly a year after the U.S. won Olympic gold in a shootout thriller and a few months after it won the Four Nations Cup against them.
In other news: • Jordan Binnington made 31 saves as the St. Louis Blues recorded their third consecutive shutout and won their 10th game in a row with a 3-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild at St. Paul.