Simpson uses strong back nine to win
Webb Simpson celebrated another victory on Father’s Day, this time with a tartan jacket instead of a U.S. Open trophy.
In a wild sprint to the finish after a threehour storm delay, Simpson ran off five birdies in a sixhole stretch on the back nine at Harbour Town in Hilton Head Island, S.C., and closed with a 7underpar 64 for a oneshot victory over Abraham Ancer.
“I think it’s a good thing that guys were making birdies because they kind of forced me to be a little more aggressive and know that pars weren’t going to cut it,” said Simpson, who finished at 22under 264 to break by two shots the tournament record Brian Gay set in 2009.
Simpson won the U.S. Open at Olympic Club in 2012. The U.S. Open has been scheduled to end on Father’s Day every year since 1976, but it was moved to September this year because of the COVID19 pandemic.
The RBC Heritage filled the spot on the schedule and Simpson, now a father of five, became a winner for the second time this year with a record score at Harbour Town.
Simpson, who won the Phoenix Open in February, moved to No. 5 in the world. He also moved to the top of the FedEx Cup standings.
It was a tough runnerup finish for Ancer, trying to become the fifth straight winner of the RBC Heritage to earn his first PGA Tour victory at Harbour Town. He hit all 18 greens in regulation and tied for the lead with a bold fairway metal over the trees to the par5 15th that set up a twoputt birdie. He stayed in the game with a birdie on the 17th. Ancer shot 65.
“That’s just golf. You’ve just got to keep trying,” Ancer said. “I’m not going to change anything.”
There was just no catching Simpson, whose only birdies were on the par5s on the front nine until he couldn’t miss. He rolled in birdie putts from 10 feet and 20 feet on the 12th and 13th, twoputted for birdie on the 15th and then sealed it with birdies from 15 feet and 18 feet.
Daniel Berger, who won the PGA Tour’s event in Texas the previous weekend, also stayed in the mix by chipping in for birdie on the 17th and closing with a 65. Tyrrell Hatton, whose last tournament was his victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, was leading until a poor tee shot led to bogey on the 13th. He shot 66 and tied for third.
Dylan Frittelli had the low score of a tournament filled with them, a 62 that put him in the lead before the final groups even teed off.
Women: Twotime major champion So Yeon Ryu closed with an evenpar 72 to win the Korea Women’s Open in Incheon in her first tournament in four months because of the COVID19 pandemic.
Ryu won for the first time since the Japan Women’s Open in 2018, and it was her first title on the Korea LPGA circuit since 2015. Ryu offered her prize money of just more than $200,000 for coronavirus relief funds.Ryu and Hyo Joo Kim, another regular on the LPGA Tour, matched pars on the back nine of Bears Best
Cheongna Golf Club. Kim shot 70 to finish one shot behind.
Sei Young Kim, who won $1.5 million for her victory at the LPGA Tour’s finale in November in Florida, led by one going to the back nine until she was slowed by three bogeys. She shot a 70 and tied for fourth.
Several LPGA Tour players from Korea have been playing their home circuit since it returned five weeks ago. The LPGA Tour is not scheduled to resume until July 31 at Inverness in Ohio.