Scheffler repeats in Phoenix, regains No. 1 ranking
Scottie Scheffler successfully defended his Phoenix Open title Sunday at TPC Scottsdale to regain the No. 1 spot in the world.
Scheffler closed with a 6-under-par 65 to beat Nick Taylor by two strokes on the Stadium Course. The 26-year-old Texan took the No. 1 ranking from Rory McIlroy with his fifth PGA Tour victory.
Last year, Scheffler beat Patrick Cantlay in a playoff for his first tour title. Scheffler added victories in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the WGC-Match Play and the Masters and was the PGA Tour’s player of the year.
“I think I only had two bogeys this week,” said Scheffler, “which is really, really good around this golf course.”
Scheffler became the seventh player to successfully defend a title in the tournament, following Ben Hogan (1946-47), Jimmy Demaret (1949-50), Lloyd Mangrum (1952-53), Arnold Palmer (three straight from 1961-63), Johnny Miller (1974-75) and Hideki Matsuyama (2016-17).
• South Africa’s Ockie Strydom shot a 9-under 63 to win the the Singapore Classic by one stroke over Finland’s Sami Valimaki. Strydom finished at 19under 269 overall for his second win on the European tour. Figure skating: Madison Chock and Evan Bates delivered the season-best free dance they needed to edge Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nkolaj Sorensen and win the ice dance at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The four-time American champions scored 133.14 points in their free dance for a total of 220.81. Their Canadian rivals, who also set a season best with their free dance, finished with 214.08 points to take the silver medal.
Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha scored 200.00 points to take the bronze medal.
It was the third title for Chock and Bates at the marquee event for non-European nations. Soccer: Rodri opened the scoring in the fourth minute, Ilkay Gundogan scored a second in the 39th and Riyad Mahrez hit a third from the penalty spot in the first minute of stoppage time at the end of the half and Manchester City beat Aston Villa 3-1, setting up a showdown with English Premier League leader Arsenal on Wednesday . ... Marcus Rashford scored his 21st goal of the season in Manchester United’s 2-0 win against Leeds. Tennis: Wu Yibing overcame 44 aces by John Isner — one shy of tying a three-set record — and four match points in a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (12) victory in the final of the Dallas Open, becoming the first Chinese player to win an ATP Tour title.
Softball: Freshman NiJaree Canady allowed no hits and struck out 10 as No. 17 Stanford (3-2) won 8-0 over Liberty (1-4) in Irvine.
Skiing: Swiss skier Marco Odermatt ended his four-year wait for a world championship medal by dominating the men’s downhill in Courchevel, France, to win gold.
Odermatt let out a few screams after posting the fastest time, which even pre-race favorite Aleksander Aamodt Kilde could not beat. The Norwegian trailed by 0.48 of a second to add to his silver from Thursday’s super-G.