SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPEN
SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPEN
LAS VEGAS — Ben Martin made a 45-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole that sent him to his first PGA Tour victory Sunday in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
Martin was one shot behind Kevin Streelman when his eagle put him back in the lead. He closed with a birdie for a 3-under 68 and a two-shot victory at the TPC Summerlin. The 27-year-old from South Carolina won in his 56th career start.
Moments after Martin made his eagle putt, Streelman missed a 5-foot birdie putt that would have tied him for the lead. Streelman still made five birdies over his last seven holes for a 65.
Martin finished at 20-under 264. The victory sends him back to the Masters. Martin played Augusta National in 2010 as the U.S. Amateur runner-up.
Russell Knox was third at 16 under after a 70.
Webb Simpson, the 2013 winner, was 15 under along with Jimmy Walker and Brooks Koepka. Simpson and Koepka shot 68, and Walker had a 69.
GREATER HICKORY KIA CLASSIC
CONOVER, N.C. — Jay Haas became the 18th player to win a Champions Tour at 60 or older, closing with a 5-under 66 for a two-stroke victory in the Greater Hickory Kia Classic.
The 60-year-old former Wake Forest player has 17 victories on the 50-and-over tour after winning nine times on the PGA Tour. He also won the event in 2005 and 2009.
Haas extended his streak of under-par rounds to 23 and finished at 17-under 196 on Rock Barn Golf and Spa’s Champions Course. He ended a 27-month, 49-event winless streak since June 2012.
Players 60 and older have won 22 events on the tour, with Hale Irwin accomplishing the feat three times and Tom Watson and Jimmy Powell doing it twice each. Mike Fetchick is the oldest winner at 63 years in the 1985 Hilton Head Seniors Invitational.
Joe Durant and Kirk Triplett tied for second. Durant and Triplett, the winner last week in Cary, shot 66.
LPGA KEB-HANABANK CHAMPIONSHIP
INCHEON, South Korea — Kyu Jung Baek won the LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship in her first tour start, beating fellow South Korean player In Gee Chun and American Brittany Lincicome with a 4-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff.
The 19-year-old Baek made the winning putt after Lincicome missed her birdie try from 4 1/2 feet. Chun hit her third shot into the greenside water hazard on the par-5 hole.
Baek finished with a 5-under 67 to match Lincicome and Chun at 10 under on Sky 72’s Ocean Course. Lincicome and Chun each shot 66. Second-ranked Inbee Park was a stroke back after a 67.
WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP
ASH, England — Finland’s Mikko Ilonen beat top-seeded Henrik Stenson of Sweden 3 and 1 on Sunday to win the World Match Play Championship.
Ilonen also won the Irish Open this year and has five European Tour titles.
In the morning semifinals, Mikko Ilonen beat Dutchman Joost Luiten 2 and 1, and Stenson topped South Africa’s George Coetzee 1 up.
HONG KONG OPEN
HONG KONG — Australia’s Scott Hend won the Hong Kong Open, beating Angelo Que of the Philippines with a par on the first hole of a playoff.
Hend closed with a 3-under 70 to match Que (66) at 13-under 267 in the event sanctioned by the European and Asian tours. Ireland’s Kevin Phelan was two strokes back after a 66.
The Associated Press