Chip-in eagle helps Koepka capture Phoenix Open
Brooks Koepka chipped in from 32 yards for eagle on the 17th hole to break a tie for the lead and then parred the last for a onestroke victory Sunday in the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale.
Five strokes behind Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele entering the round, Koepka shot a 6under-par 65 to finish at 19-under 265. The fourtime major champion also won in 2015 at TPC Scottsdale for the first of his eight PGA Tour titles.
On the 334-yard 17th, Koepka hit a fairway wood 305 yards to the fairway short and left of the green, then holed out to the largest roar of the day from the crowd limited to 5,000 a day — a fraction of the
usual size but the most on tour during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Back at full strength after lingering left knee and hip problems, Koepka rebounded from a bogey on the second with an eagle on the par-5 third and birdied Nos. 13-15.
Schauffele birdied the par-4 18th for a 71 to tie for second with KyoungHoon Lee (68). The fourth-ranked Schauffele tied for second last week at Torrey Pines.
Lee birdied 17 to pull within one of Koepka, but drove right on the par-4 18th and had his 34-foot birdie try slide by on the high side.
Steve Stricker, the 53year-old U.S. Ryder Cup captain who was trying to become the oldest winner on the PGA Tour, shot a 67 to tie for fourth with Spieth (72) and Carlos Ortiz (64) at 17-under.
Spieth and Schauffele struggled from the start, with Spieth bogeying the first hole after nearly driving into a desert bush.
They each had two bogeys on the front nine, with Schauffele making the only birdie between the two on the front side on No. 9.
Schauffele and Spieth each drove into the water on 17 to end their chances, then both birdied 18.
Spieth shot 61 on Saturday for a share of the lead. Winless since the 2017 British Open, the 27-year-old Texan is trying recapture the form that carried him to 11 PGA Tour victories — three of them majors — in his first five seasons on the tour.
James Hahn, three strokes ahead in the middle of the round, bogeyed four of the last eight holes for a 69. He finished 10th at 15 under.
EUROPEAN TOUR
Top-ranked Dustin Johnson won the Saudi International for the second time in three years after shooting a 2-under 68 in the final round to finish two strokes clear of Justin Rose and Tony Finau.
Johnson, who was also runner-up in 2020, recorded his highest scoring round of the tournament at Royal Greens Golf Club in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia, but still finished top of the leaderboard on 15-under overall.
Scotland’s Calum Hill eagled the par-five 18th to finish in a tie for fourth with France’s Victor Perez.
Johnson took a two-shot lead into the final round but the Masters champion struggled on the greens and was caught by Finau when his fellow American made a hat-trick of birdies from the 11th.
However, Johnson edged back in front with a birdie on the 13th and was given some welcome breathing space when Finau dropped shots on the 16th and 17th and Perez double-bogeyed the 16th.
Johnson also dropped a shot on the 16th to see his lead cut to one, but responded in style with a massive tee shot on the next and a pitch to two feet to set up a decisive birdie.
“I saw the leaderboard a little bit, the guys were playing well but I kept giving myself a lot of chances,” Johnson told Sky Sports. “I didn’t hole many of them but finally holed a really nice putt on 13.
“Seventeen was a really nice birdie, hit a great drive there and a nice little chip but it was tough all day today.”