Phil falters in wind at Pebble Beach
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Nick Taylor had more trouble with the wind than he did with Phil Mickelson. The Canadian managed both just fine Sunday and won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am for his second career victory.
With the gallery eager to see Mickelson add a record sixth victory at Pebble Beach, Taylor showed plenty of moxie in building a five-shot lead at the turn and then holding on when 40 mph gusts blasted the Monterey Peninsula.
He closed with a 2-under 70 for a four-shot victory over Kevin Streelman (68). Mickelson, who closed within two shots with four holes to play, shot 74 and finished alone in third. He has won, been runner-up twice and finished third in his last four starts at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Taylor won in his fourth start as a PGA Tour rookie at the 2015 Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi, at the time an opposite-field event that didn’t feature any of the top players. He went 146 starts on the PGA Tour until his next victory, and it was a big one.
The victory gets him into the Masters for the first time, along with the PGA Championship up the coast at Harding Park in May. In his sixth year on tour, Taylor has played only two majors as a pro.
“That was amazing,” Taylor said. “I believed I could do it because I’ve done it before. But to do it in that fashion, playing with Phil, gives me a lot of confidence going forward.”
Taylor started the final round with a one-shot lead over Mickelson, and they were tied after Lefty got up-and-down from a bunker on the par-5 second.
Seven holes later, Taylor had a fiveshot lead.
He holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the fourth, a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fifth, and then he holed a bunker shot for eagle on the par-5 sixth hole, the kind of short-game shot everyone expected out of Mickelson.
And then it got ugly for Mickelson. He went over the green at No. 8 and played an aggressive chip that rolled by the flag, down the slope and back into the fairway. He pitched the next one too far and made double bogey, and then made bogey on the ninth as Taylor holed a 7-foot birdie to go five shots ahead.
Streelman also leaves with a trophy. He teamed with Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald to easily win the pro-am for the second time in three years.
Victorian Open
MELBOURNE, Australia – Korea’s Hee Young Park, who came close to quitting golf last year, made par on the fourth hole of a three-way playoff Sunday to win the LPGA Tour’s Victoria Open from compatriots Hye-Jin Choi and So Yeon Ryu.
On a course swept by a boisterous wind and as evening closed in Park, Choi and Ryu returned repeatedly to the tee on the dog-leg par-5 18th to play out a gripping finale after finishing tied at 281, 8-under par. Former world No. 1 Ryu dropped out on the second playoff hole when she missed a birdie putt but Park and Choi continued until luck and nature intervened.
Choi’s tee shot on the fourth playoff hole came to rest against a pine cone in light rough left of the fairway, leaving her with no choice but to chip out. Her attempt to do so came up short, she put her next into a hazard, dropped out, and finally reached the fringe of the green in six. Park had an eagle putt to win the tournament on the first playoff hole but saw it slide by the cup. She faced three more holes in tough conditions before clinching her third LPGA title.
The tournament at the 13th Beach Golf Links also feature a European Tour men’s tournament running alongside the women’s event.
Australia’s Min Woo Lee held his nerve on a day of high winds and high drama to win his first professional title in the same tournament his sister Minjee Lee won as an amateur in 2014 and again as a professional in 2018.
Minjee Lee, who finished in a tie for sixth in the women’s event, was beside the 18th green when Min Woo tapped in a birdie putt to win the title by two shots from New Zealander Ryan Fox.