Dominant Thompson captures LPGA finale
Jutanugarn wins Race to CME Globe
NAPLES — Lexi Thompson was the best this week. Ariya Jutanugarn was the best all season.
Neither left any doubt about that Sunday.
Thompson shot a finalround 70 to finish at 18-under 270 and win the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship by four strokes over Nelly Korda in southwest Florida. The win makes this the sixth consecutive year that Thompson has won at least once, extending the longest such active streak on the LPGA Tour.
“It’s very gratifying,” Thompson said. “This is such a special event for me in general, growing up in Florida. It was just very gratifying.”
Jutanugarn took the other two big prizes that were up for grabs this week, clinching the yearlong Race to the CME Globe prize — and the $1 million bonus that comes with that — as well as the Vare Trophy for winning the season’s scoring title. The world No. 1 already had wrapped up player-of-theyear honors and finished 2018 with a 69.415 scoring average to edge Minjee Lee (69.747) for the top spot there.
Jutanugarn shot a 6-under 66 on Sunday, finishing the week tied for fifth at 12-under 276.
“It felt great today,” Jutanugarn said. “I’m very proud of myself.”
Jutanugarn briefly lost the lead in the projected Globe standings on Sunday after Brooke Henderson made three birdies on her first seven holes to grab the top spot. Jutanugarn reclaimed the advantage with four birdies in a six-hole stretch midway through her round, and the trophy was just about locked up when she birdied the par-5 14th almost simultaneously to Henderson making bogey on the par-3 16th.
Jutanugarn finished in style, rolling in a 15-footer for birdie on the final hole to cap the year where she swept the LPGA’s biggest prizes.
“It means so much to me because like to be honest, after 2016 I never expected anything,” Jutanugarn said. “I feel like I achieve like too much already in my life, so I never think I can do anything more than that. So this year just like unbelievable.”
It was the 10th career win for Thompson, who grabbed the lead on Friday and kept it the rest of the way. She hadn’t finished better than a tie for ninth in any of her last eight starts — but Tiburon Golf Club has been a haven for the native South Floridian, who is 31-under in her last seven rounds at the tour championship there.
The win also helped ease the pain of last year’s tour championship for Thompson. She had a 2-foot par putt on the 72nd hole — one that could have meant a tournament win, the world No. 1 ranking and player of the year honors — but pushed it right and wound up losing to Jutanugarn by a shot.
There was no final-hole angst this time, and the role reversal was complete. Like Thompson in 2017, Jutanugarn departed with the Globe and the Vare Trophy; like Jutanugarn in 2017, Thompson got the win in the season finale.
The 2019 LPGA schedule is expected to be released in full later this month. The year begins with the inaugural Tournament of Champions in Lake Buena Vista from Jan. 17-20. Winners from the last two LPGA seasons are eligible for that field, which means there should be about 36 pros playing along with some celebrity participants and amateurs.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Charles Howell III made a 15-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a playoff with Patrick Rodgers on Sunday in the RSM Classic to end an 11-year victory drought.
Howell dropped to his knees and buried his head in his hands, then tearfully embraced wife Heather and children Ansley and Chase — neither of whom were born when he last won on the PGA Tour at Riviera in 2007.
Howell earned $1,152,000 and a return trip to his hometown of Augusta in April to play in the Masters for the first time since 2012.
“That was the first thing that popped into my head [after making the clinching putt],” Howell said. “Obviously, it means a lot to me being from Augusta but it means a lot to every player, right?”
After Rodgers sent a birdie attempt of 21 feet past the cup on the second extra hole, Howell’s putt died in the cup and capped a comeback in which he went bogey-double bogey on his first two holes to lose the lead he had held through the first three rounds.
Howell closed with a 3-under 67, birdieing Nos. 15-17, to match Rodgers at 19-under 263 in the final PGA Tour event of the year. After making the 36-hole cut on the 2-under number, Rodgers shot 61-62 on the weekend.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Danny Willett ended his title drought in thrilling fashion, winning the DP World Tour Championship by two shots despite a last-hole blunder.
It was the 31-year-old Englishman’s first victory since the 2016 Masters, secured with a final-round 4-under-par 68 for an 18-under total of 270.
Francesco Molinari finished in joint 26th place to win the European Tour’s Race to Dubai.
Molinari, winner of the Open Championship and the BMW PGA Championship, secured the title when his closest rival Tommy Fleetwood failed to win the tournament.