Emotional Day wins Nelson by one shot
Jason Day didn’t make the Mother’s Day connection until he saw his late mom’s name on the back of his caddie’s bib on the first green during the final round of the Byron Nelson.
That was just one more reason for the emotions to flow over the Australian’s first victory in five years.
Day shot nine-under 62 for a one-shot victory over Austin Eckroat and Si Woo Kim on Sunday, ending a drought plagued by health issues that overlapped with Dening Day’s long battle with lung cancer before her death a little more than a year ago.
“It was very emotional to go through and to experience what she was going through, then I had injuries on top of all of that going on in my life,” Day said. “It feels strange to be sitting here.”
Day, winless in 105 starts since the 2018 Wells Fargo, took his first outright lead from a large group of contenders when he broke a tie at 20 under with hometown favorite Scottie Scheffler with a chip-in for birdie at the par-four 12th.
It was the second-toughest hole of the week after being converted from a par five from the first two years the Nelson was held at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, about 30 miles north of Dallas.
Day finished 23 under while ending his victory drought the week before the PGA Championship. The only major among the 35year-old’s 13 wins was the 2015 PGA.
Day’s first career PGA Tour victory came at the 2010 Nelson, and the victories kept coming until issues with his back and vertigo had him on the verge of leaving the game in recent years.
“To be on the other side of it, be healthy, feeling good about my game, finally winning again,” Day said. “No better feeling, really.”
Ko wins Founders in playoff over Lee
Trailing by four shots heading into the final round of the Founders Classic, Jin Young Ko got a little inspiration about comeback wins watching fellow South Korean Sungjae Im rally from a big deficit to win on the KPGA Tour.
If he could do it, why not her?
Ko overcame a pair of deficits to win the Founders Cup in Clifton, N.J., for the third time in five years, getting the victory on the first playoff hole when defending champion Minjee Lee threeputted for bogey.
“He played a Korean tournament this week and he won,” the 27-year-old Ko said. “He was five shots behind the lead and he made it to win, so that inspired me.”
Ko felt all she needed to do was play well on the treelined Upper Montclair Country Club.
“This golf course is not easy. Fairways are narrow and greens are firm and windy,” Ko said. “But I shot really, really good and, yeah I feel really good and it’s an honor to get the third Cognizant Founders Cup trophy.”
Stricker ties mark to win Regions
Steve Stricker tied the Regions Tradition record with a 23-under 265, including a closing 65, and ran away with his second consecutive championship at the PGA Tour Champions major by six strokes over Ernie Els and Robert Karlsson in Birmingham, Ala.
Stricker, whose late surge had pulled him into a tie with Karlsson entering the final round, continued his domination on the par-72 Founders Course at Greystone. It’s his third win at the Tradition in the last five attempts — including two second-place finishes— and gave the 56year-old five major wins, sixth most on the 50-andover tour.
“It was a special week here again,” Stricker said. “I don’t know what it is about
this place, but it brings out the best in me for some reason. I’ve played some really good golf here and today was no different.”
His birdie putt for the outright tournament scoring record was only about a foot off on No. 18. Doug Tewell had set the Tradition record, going 23 under in 2001.
“I needed that finish yesterday just to keep touch with the leaders,” Stricker said.
Johnson recovers for f irst win of year
Dustin Johnson overcame a triple bogey by making birdie on the 18th hole to join a playoff and another birdie on the 18th to win LIV Golf Tulsa in Broken Arrow, Okla., for his first win this year.
The victory was Johnson’s second since he joined LIV Golf a year ago. He also won outside Boston in a three-man playoff.
This one required some clutch shots on the closing hole at rain-soaked Cedar Ridge for Johnson to take down British Open champion Cameron Smith and Branden Grace.
Johnson recovered despite making a mess of the par-three 10th hole. He had a shot bounce down a path into the water, a muddy lie and missed a four-foot putt. It added to a triple bogey, allowing Grace to take the lead.
“Everything I could do wrong, I did wrong on the hole,” Johnson said. “To fight back and birdie 18 two times in a row when I had to, I’m really happy with that.”