Darkness forces extra day for playoff in LPGA Tour opener

The final round of the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions featured a little bit of everything. Clutch shots, bold play, lead changes, a few costly mistakes and even bonus golf. Sunday did everything but decide a champion. Nasa Hataoka and Gaby Lopez matched par five times in a playoff at the 197-yard 18th hole until it was too dark to continue. They will return at 8 a.m. today at Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club in Orlando, Fla., to see who gets the trophy.

LPGA Hall of Famer Inbee Park also was in the playoff, but was eliminated on the third extra hole when her tee shot with a fairway metal caromed off rocks left of the par-3 18th and bounded into surrounding water.

If the LPGA season can replicate the fireworks displayed in its season opener, this could be quite a year. Five players spent time with at least a share of the fourth-round lead. Lopez (5-under 66), Hataoka (68) and Park (71), who led by two shots after 54 holes, finished 72 holes of regulation at 13-under 271. M.J. Hur, who made 10 birdies and shot 63, and Brooke Henderson (67) finished one shot out of the playoff in this event featuring 26 LPGA tournament winners from the last two seasons.

The playoff that will resume on Monday is the LPGA's longest since Pernilla Lindberg defeated Park in eight holes at the 2018 ANA Inspiration. Monday's winner will earn $180,000.

Henderson, who shared the 36-hole lead, also made a late run with four back-nine birdies, but missed the green short and right with her tee shot at the 18th and failed to hole a long pitch.

There was one champion crowned on Sunday: John Smoltz, former Atlanta Braves standout starter and reliever and baseball Hall of Famer, repeated as champion in the celebrity division. He finished with 150 points in the modified Stableford scoring system, nine points better then U.S. Curtis Cup captain Mardy Fish, another two-time champion.