California grad comes full circle at Quail Hollow
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two years after Max Homa played only one Sunday in an entire PGA Tour season, he showed his mettle at Quail Hollow by closing with a 4-under-par 67 to pull away from the field and win the Wells Fargo Championship.
Homa began the back nine with two birdies to build a four-shot lead and didn’t make any mistakes until it affected only the final margin.
Joel Dahmen saved par with a tough chip over the creek for a 70 and finished three shots behind.
Homa, who won the NCAA title at California in 2013, won for the first time in his 68th start as a pro. The victory gets him into the PGA Championship in two weeks at Bethpage Black and the Masters next April.
But what a turnaround for the 28-yearold Californian.
Homa was at No. 829 in the world when he got his third crack at the PGA Tour in October. Two seasons ago, he made only two cuts in 17 tournaments, missing the 54-hole cut in one of them and finishing last at an opposite-field event in the other.
But he made six of seven cuts coming into Quail Hollow and played like he belonged.
“Confidence takes a lot of anxiety away,” he said Saturday as he prepared to play in the final group for the first time.
Homa never flinched, effectively sealing it with a long shot up the hill and onto the green at the par-5 15th for a two-putt birdie, saving par to keep a three-shot lead going to the final hole and drilling his tee shot down the fairway. He wrapped it up with a 10-foot par putt to finish at 15-under 269.
At Daly City, Calif., Sei Young Kim overcame a rough start to win the Mediheal Championship at cold and windy Lake Merced, outlasting Bronte Law and Jeongeun Lee6 with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
Three strokes ahead entering the day,
LPGA:
Kim opened with a double bogey and a bogey and then dropped another stroke on No. 8 before settling for a 3-over 75 and a spot in the playoff at 7-under 281.
Law closed with a 65, finishing more than two hours before Kim, and Lee6 had a 67. Kim won for the eighth time on tour and improved to 4-0 in playoffs.
At The Woodlands, Texas, Scott Mccarron won the Insperity Invitational for his 10th tour victory and second in three weeks.
Mccarron, 53, held off Scott Parel by two strokes, closing with a 5-under 67 to finish at 17-under 199 and match Fred Couples (2010) for the best score since the event moved to The Woodlands Country Club in 2008.
At Shenzhen, China, Mikko Korhonen of Finland overcame a three-shot deficit with a 6-under 66 and beat Benjamin Hebert in a playoff with an 8-foot birdie putt in the Volvo China Open. They finished regulation at 20-under 268.
Champions: European PGA: SNGA:
At Boulder City, Jack Trent, a sophomore All-mountain West player for UNLV, shot 8-under 136 over rounds at Boulder Creek Golf Club and Boulder City Golf Course on Saturday and Sunday to win the Southern Nevada Golf Association Boulder City Amateur by two shots over former UNLV golfer Edward Fryatt.