HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) – Stewart Cink shot a steady, stress-free 70 to cap off a dominant, record-breaking week and win his third RBC Heritage title on Sunday.
The 47-year-old Cink finished at 19-under 265 at Harbour Town, four better than Emiliano Grillo and Harold Varner III. Grillo shot a 68, while Varner, who had the highest career finish, fired a 66.
He joined Bryson DeChambeau as the only two-time winners this season and continued his resurgence on the PGA Tour at a time when many pros his age are looking ahead to the PGA Tour Champions.
In September, Cink, who ended 11 years without a victory at the Safeway Open, added five more top-20 finishes, including a tie for 12th last week at the Masters.
He is the fourth player to win twice in the same PGA Tour season after turning 47. The others are Sam Snead, Julius Boros, and Kenny Perry, who accomplished it twice.
Cink set the 36-hole record at Harbour Town (126) and the 54-hole tournament record (195). Cink, who finished at 22-under 262, finished two shots shy of the 72-hole record Webb Simpson set last June.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
NAPLES, Fla. (AP) – Steve Stricker figured someone could come out of the pack with a low score and win the Chubb Classic on Sunday, and it turned out to be him.
Stricker closed with a 5-under 67, taking a wedge into 3 feet for birdie on the 16th hole. That carried him to a one-shot victory in Naples, where the 54-year-old from Wisconsin makes his winter home.
PGA Tour Champions, his first title since the U.S. Senior Open in the summer of 2019.
Robert Karlsson of Sweden shared the 36-hole lead with Fred Couples, and Monday qualifier Alex Cejka of Germany made a birdie on the final hole to tie for second. Cejka is assured of getting into the next open Champions event without qualifying.
A couple shot 71 and tied for sixth.
EUROPEAN TOUR
ATZENBRUGG, Austria (AP) – John Catlin won for the third time in the last eight months on the European Tour, closing with a 7-under 65 and outlasting Maximilian Kieffer on the fifth playoff hole Sunday in the Austrian Open.
Catlin grew up in California and played college golf in New Mexico. He moves into the top 80 globally and is poised to play in his first primary next month at the PGA Championship, typically taking the top 100.
Kieffer, who closed with a 66, missed a birdie putt on the first playoff hole. He made it easy on Catlin by hitting in the water three times on the fifth extra hole.
They finished at 14 under 274.
Catlin now has ten victories worldwide, including four on the Asian Tour.
LPGA TOUR
KAPOLEI, Hawaii (AP) – Lydia Ko ended nearly three years without a victory by closing with a 65 to win the Lotte Championship by seven shots in an LPGA Tour event that ended Saturday.
Ko torched Kapolei Golf Club and finished at 28-under 260.
It brought back vivid memories of the teenager from New Zealand who became the youngest player to reach No. 1 in the women’s world golf ranking in 2015. She also is the LPGA’s youngest-ever winner, a major champion, and player of the year.
Ko turns 24 next Saturday.
Sei Young Kim, Inbee Park, Nelly Korda, and Leona Maguire tied for second.
OTHER TOURS
Takumi Kanaya closed with a 1-under 70 for a one-shot victory in the Token Homemade Cup, his third victory on the Japan Golf Tour. Kanaya, who joined Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama as the only Japanese winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur, moved inside the top 100 globally and is poised to join Matsuyama in the Olympics. Keita Nakajima, the 20-year-old amateur, was runner-up. … Ruixin Liu overcame a six-shot deficit by closing with a 5-under 67 and winning the Casino Del Sol Golf Classic on the Symetra Tour with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff. She beat Morgane Metraux, who shot a 73 in the final round.
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