Horschel beats Day in Nelson playoff
Billy Horschel won the AT&T Byron Nelson in Irving, Texas, with a par on the first playoff hole Sunday after Jason Day pulled his 4-foot par putt left and past the hole.
That miss by Day almost wasn’t even needed for Horschel, whose 36-foot birdie chance was rolling straight toward the center of the cup before stopping just short. He pocketed $1.35 million and won for the fourth time on the PGA Tour and for the first time since taking the 2014 Tour Championship for the FedEx Cup title.
With a 1-under 69, including a 60-foot birdie putt at the 14th hole, Horschel matched Day at 12-under 268. Day had a 68.
Third-round leader James Hahn, who grew up in Alameda and went to Cal, finished a stroke back after shooting 71. He just missed a miraculous eagle at the 18th hole that would have gotten him in the playoff with his playing partners.
Because of early morning rain that delayed the start Sunday, threesomes were used instead of the usual weekend twosomes. No one outside of that final group made a real charge to contend with the final trio.
Dustin Johnson, the world No. 1 player, had a closing 69 to tie for 13th at 6 under. Defending champion Sergio Garcia started the day within four strokes of the lead. But he was quickly out of contention after giving back four strokes when he missed three putts of 5 feet or less on Nos. 2-4. His closing 74 put him 4 under and tied for 20th. LPGA Tour: Lexi Thompson shot a 6-under 65 to finish off a wire-to-wire victory in the Kingsmill Championship in Williamsburg, Va., with a tournament-record 20-under 264 total.
Thompson broke the tournament record of 19 under at Kingsmill’s River Course set by Annika Sorenstam in 2008. The victory came in Thompson’s third event since she lost the ANA Inspiration in a playoff after being penalized four strokes for a rules violation reported by a television viewer during the final round.
In Gee Chun, playing with Thompson, shot a bogey-free 67, but was no match for the leader, finishing five shots back. Topranked Lydia Ko shot 73 to tie for 10th at 7 under. Champions Tour: Bernhard Langer cruised to his second straight Regions Tradition victory, shooting an 8-under-64 in Birmingham, Ala., to match Jack Nicklaus’ record of eight senior major titles.
Langer wiped out a six-stroke deficit over the weekend and entered the final round down two strokes to Fred Funk. He finished at 20-under 268 for a five-stroke victory over Scott McCarron and Scott Parel. European Tour: Alvaro Quiros of Spain beat Zander Lombard of South Africa on the second hole of a playoff to win the Rocco Forte Open in Verdura, Sicily, and claim his first title in more than six years.