Bhatia bounces back to win after blowing big lead
Akshay Bhatia nearly celebrated too soon Sunday, hurting his left shoulder while pumping his arms on a 12-foot birdie to force a playoff. He recovered to make birdie on the first extra hole and win the Texas Open over hard-luck Denny Mccarthy to earn a trip to the Masters.
It was a wild finish on so many levels.
Mccarthy was six shots behind going to the back nine at the TPC San Antonio when he birdied eight of the nine holes — including the last seven — making a 12-foot birdie for a 9-under 63. Bhatia had to make his birdie putt from the same range to have a chance.
He made it for a 67, raising his arms to shake them in his clutch moment. And that’s when he felt his shoulder — which he says has given him trouble before — pop out of its socket.
Bhatia hit his tee shot and laid up with a 5-iron on the par-5 18th in the playoff.
Mccarthy, playing in his 174th PGA Tour event without winning, was first to play and chunked a wedge so badly that he immediately hung his head. The ball came up some 20 yards short into the middle of a creek.
And then Bhatia called for treatment, jogging off the course briefly to get his shoulder taped. He returned and hit wedge to 6 feet. Needing three putts to win, he holed it to win for the second time on the PGA Tour.
Rory Mcilroy closed with a 66 to finish alone in third in his final event before the Masters, the one major keeping him from the career Grand Slam.
Korda makes Match Play 4th straight win
Nelly Korda won the Tmobile Match Play on Sunday became the first LPGA Tour player in 16 years to win four straight starts, taking four of the first seven holes and going on to beat Leona Maguire 4 and 3 at Shadow Creek.
Lorena Ochoa in 2008 was the last player to win four consecutive starts. Korda, the world’s topranked player, will try to tie the record of five — set by Nancy Lopez in 1978 and matched by Annika Sorenstam in 2004-05 — in two weeks at the season’s first major, The Chevron Championship.
This was the first headto-head match-play singles event between Korda and Maguire, but they have experience against each other in similar settings at the Solheim Cup. The Irish player is 3-1 while representing Europe in team match-play events against Korda.
Korda took the drama out of this one with birdies on Nos. 5-7 for a 4-up lead. She was 5 up after 12, saw Maguire take 13 and 14 with pars, and ended the match with a par win on the par-4 15th.
Burmester bests Garcia in LIV playoff
Dean Burmester of South Africa won for the first time on the LIV Golf League by closing with a 4-under 68 and beating Sergio Garcia in a playoff Sunday when the Spaniard hit into the water on the second extra hole at LIV Golf Miami.
It was the third time Garcia has lost a playoff in LIV Golf, and the second time this year.
The former Masters champion, who has yet to win since joining the Saudi-funded league when it launched in 2022, looked to have this one in hand when he holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole and then took the lead when Burmester bogeyed the 18th at Trump National Doral.
Garcia badly missed a 4-foot par putt on the 18th hole and shot 70. They finished at 11-under 205, one shot ahead of Matthew Wolff.
Both made par on the 18th on the first playoff hole. The second time around, Garcia came up short of the green and into the water. Burmester made a 3-foot par putt for the win, giving him the $4 million prize.