Stallings’ No. 18 shot leads to Farmers victory
Stallings’ No. 18 shot leads to Farmers victory
SAN DIEGO — In a tournament that was up for grabs, Scott Stallings hit a 4-iron worthy of a winner Sunday in the Farmers Insurance Open.
Stallings was in a five-way tie for the lead when he hit his second shot on the par-5 18th hole as hard as he could. It was enough to barely clear the water, and he took two putts from 40 feet for birdie and a 4-under 68 at Torrey Pines. That was enough for a one-shot victory when no one could catch him.
It was the third career PGA Tour victory for Stallings, who earned a return trip to the Masters and should move high enough in the world ranking to qualify for the Match Play Championship next month in Arizona.
K.J. Choi had the best score of the week on the South Course with a 66 and was among those who tied for second. The pins were set up in favorable positions for birdies, making the course play the easiest it had all week.
Stallings finished at 9-under 279. Jason Day (68) and Graham DeLaet of Canada (68) birdied on the last hole to tie for second.
Korda wins LPGA season opener in Bahamas
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — Jessica Korda won the season-opening Bahamas LPGA Classic for her second tour title, holing a 6-foot birdie putt on the final hole to beat Stacy Lewis by a stroke.
The 20-year-old Korda closed with a 7-under 66 for a 19-under 273 total on Atlantis Resort’s Ocean Club course. Lewis parred the final four holes — two of them par 5s — for a 66.
Korda tied Lewis for the lead with a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th, then got up-and-down for birdie on the par-5 18th. Korda’s 4-iron approach on 18 scampered through the green and up against the grandstand. She took relief from the grandstand and, with an official and a TV announcer holding up cords that would have interfered with her stroke, putted under the wires to set up the winning birdie.
By wire sources