Golf roundup: Joe Highsmith a lower above for first PGA Tour victory

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Two days after Joe Highsmith made a nervy par putt to make the lower on the Cognizant Traditional, he received the event with the bottom weekend ever at PGA Nationwide and goes to the Masters subsequent month.

Highsmith rallied from a four-shot deficit Sunday with three straight birdies across the flip and a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-3 seventeenth that every one however clinched it, giving him one other 7-under-par 64 and a two-stroke margin in his first PGA Tour victory.

“Profitable was the very last thing on my thoughts,” mentioned Highsmith, who completed the 72-hole event on the Champion Course at 19-under 265. “It is unbelievable to return out on prime. I performed in all probability one of the best spherical of my life.”

Highsmith had somewhat assist from Jake Knapp, who opened the event Thursday with a 59 — simply the 14th sub-60 spherical in PGA Tour historical past — and held it collectively till one shot into the water and two extra to get out.

Knapp, attempting to turn into the primary wire-to-wire winner on this event’s historical past, had a one-stroke lead when his wedge shot to the eleventh inexperienced got here up brief and into the water, with solely half of the golf ball submerged. He tried to blast out, but it surely trickled down the slope and again to the water. He tried once more, this time the ball holding up within the tough.

“Did not hit any of them actually arduous sufficient, sadly,” Knapp mentioned.

He wound up with a triple bogey and by no means caught up. Knapp did not make one other birdie the remainder of the way in which, closed with a 72 and tied for sixth with Michael Kim (71), who performed with him within the closing group.

Jacob Bridgeman (64) and J.J. Spaun (66) shared second place.

“I used to be attempting to make as many birdies as I might,” Bridgeman mentioned when his spherical was over. “I knew I needed to do one thing sort of extraordinary at present to catch the leaders, and I caught them, however they’re solely on the ninth gap.”

His runner-up end was sufficient to get him into the Arnold Palmer Invitational that begins Thursday at Bay Hill in Orlando.

Chattanooga native Keith Mitchell (71), a Baylor College graduate, tied for forty second at 8 beneath.

Highsmith, a 24-year-old left-hander from Lakewood, Washington, with a bucket hat and a broad smile, turned the primary participant at a PGA Tour occasion to make the lower on the quantity and win since Brandt Snedeker within the 2016 Farmers Insurance coverage Open at San Diego’s Torrey Pines.

With so many gamers within the combine going into the ultimate spherical, it was set as much as be a wild end, and 5 gamers had not less than a share of the lead at one level.

Highsmith eradicated the drama within the closing hour with a flawless spherical and an unforgettable weekend by which he performed his 36 holes at 14-under 128. His massive run Sunday began with a wedge to 3 ft from the cup on No. 9. He two-putted for a birdie on the par-5 tenth, then rolled in an 18-foot birdie on No. 11. He added a 15-foot birdie putt on the thirteenth to take management, then sealed it along with his birdie putt down the slope on the seventeenth.

Highsmith was all smiles coming off the 18th inexperienced along with his caddie Joe LaCava IV, the son of the caddie who was on the bag for Masters champions Fred {Couples} in 1992 and Tiger Woods in 2019, and who now works for Patrick Cantlay.

Highsmith is the second first-time winner in as many weeks, following Brian Campbell successful the Mexico Open. Together with incomes a spot within the Masters and the PGA Championship this yr, Highsmith is within the remaining 5 signature occasions on the PGA Tour’s 2025 schedule, beginning with the Arnold Palmer Traditional.

Highsmith shot the bottom 72-hole rating at this event because it moved in 2007 to PGA Nationwide, which has held two PGA Championships and a Ryder Cup.

The course was overseeded this time, making the tough much less daunting and the fairways softer, however three-time main winner Jordan Spieth — he tied for ninth at 14 beneath after a closing 68 — defended the format.

“I get that the overseed was there and the wind was down, but it surely’s nonetheless a hectic golf course,” Spieth mentioned, “and this was among the greatest golf I’ve seen performed relative to what I might have thought would have occurred on a golf course in fairly some time. It is loopy good golf on the market.”

Lengthy-awaited victory

SINGAPORE — LPGA Tour star Lydia Ko lastly conquered the HSBC Ladies’s World Championship, with the 27-year-old from New Zealand successful the occasion on her eleventh try in dominant style.

Ko closed with a 3-under 69 to complete the 72-hole occasion at Sentosa Golf Membership at 13-under 275, 4 strokes forward of runners-up Ayaka Furue (68) of Japan and Jeeno Thitikul (70) of Thailand.

Ko, who was the gold medalist on the Paris Olympics and the Ladies’s British Open champion final yr, overcame a middling begin to the ultimate spherical earlier than discovering her rhythm with a birdie on the par-5 sixth. She added back-to-back birdies on the following two holes and was in charge of the leaderboard from that time ahead even with a pair of bogeys after making the flip.

“I dreamt final evening that I received however then I awakened, and I used to be like, dang, it is not actual but,” mentioned Ko, who secured her twenty third LPGA Tour victory and her first for the reason that Queen Metropolis Championship final September. “However I simply needed to deal with my recreation.”

“I began off actually regular, and you already know, did not actually put myself in bother that a lot. I believe that was going to be the important thing for at present.”

Ko’s earlier greatest end on this occasion was second in 2015.

“It is thrilling to lastly add Asia’s main to my main assortment,” she mentioned.

England’s Charley Hull, only one shot behind Ko getting into the ultimate spherical, noticed her title hopes fade after a irritating 74, settling for a share of fourth at 7 beneath alongside South Korea’s Im Jin Hee (67) and Mexico’s Gaby Lopez (70).

Naidoo wins playoff

DURBAN, South Africa — Dylan Naidoo held his nerve on the primary playoff gap towards Laurie Canter with a birdie putt to win the rain-marred South African Open, along with his first victory on the Europe-based DP World Tour incomes a spot on this yr’s British Open.

The fourth spherical was first suspended after which canceled because of a flooded course at Durban Nation Membership.

The comfort prize for Canter was a runner-up end that strikes the 35-year-old Englishman into the highest 50 in subsequent version of the Official World Golf Rating, making him eligible for The Gamers Championship and its $25 million prize fund because the flagship occasion of the PGA Tour.

This yr’s version tees off March 13 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Seashore, Florida, and Canter would be the first participant from the LIV Golf League to compete within the event. He performed on the Saudi-funded circuit in 2022 and 2023, and his closing look as an alternate was in early February 2024. The tour coverage is for LIV gamers to attend one yr earlier than enjoying on the PGA Tour.

Naidoo, a 27-year-old South African, and Canter every hit good tee pictures within the playoff after being tied at 14-under 202 by way of 54 holes.

Naidoo’s very good second shot despatched his chip from the golf green close to the flag, although, whereas Canter went lengthy towards the sting of the inexperienced. Canter missed his birdie putt, leaving Naidoo his brief putt to win.

After the ball dropped in, he leaned again and his cap fell off as he put his head in his fingers. Naidoo then hugged his caddie and let loose a disbelieving giggle.

“I do not know what to say, it simply appears like a dream. Am I going to get up sooner or later?” a jubilant Naidoo mentioned moments later. “I do not know what to say. It is a particular second for me, for everyone right here in Durban. Jeepers!”

Naidoo set a course file along with his 11-under 61 within the second spherical and felt the assist of the house crowd.

“Yesterday, I felt like I used to be Tiger Woods, there have been so many individuals, a lot power,” Naidoo mentioned.

Three spots on the British Open have been obtainable on the South African Open, and Marco Penge and Darren Fichardt acquired the opposite two. Penge (68) of England tied for third at 13 beneath, whereas Fichardt (71) was one other stroke again and shared fourth with fellow South African gamers Branden Grace (71) and Christiaan Maas (70).

Main for Peake

QUEENSTOWN, New Zealand — Ryan Peake, a former bike gang member who turned his life round by way of golf, earned a spot on the British Open when he received the 104th New Zealand Open by one stroke.

The 31-year-old from Western Australia known as his first win on the PGA Tour of Australasia “life-changing” after sinking an eight-foot par putt on the event’s 72nd gap to keep away from a four-way playoff with fellow Australian participant Jack Thompson, Japan’s Kazuki Higa and South Africa’s Ian Snyman.

Peake, who closed out a 5-under 66 to complete at 23-under 261 at Milbrook Resort, earned near $112,000 for successful. Higa and Snyman every shot a 66, whereas Thompson had the low spherical of the day with a 63 as that trio tied for second.

Peake had been a promising junior golfer — and a teammate of Cameron Smith, the 2022 British Open winner who competes within the LIV Golf League — earlier than he was convicted of assault at age 21 and sentenced to 5 years in jail. He was a member of the outlawed Rebels gang in Australia.

His clearance to enter New Zealand was delayed by his legal file.

After leaving jail, he returned to golf and started to rebuild his profession with the assistance of main coach Richie Smith and with the assist of his household. Now, having simply acquired his tour card this season, he’s already a winner.

“I all the time knew I might do it, but it surely was only a matter of once I was going to do it,” Peake mentioned. “Together with my household and my staff, everybody believed, and most of all I believed as effectively.”

Peake, who trailed 54-hole chief Guntaek Koh of South Korea by 4 strokes heading into Sunday, took the lead for the primary time on the 67th gap and went 55 holes with out a bogey.

“I’ve simply modified my life,” Peake mentioned. “That is what I do. I simply need to be right here and play golf.

“The story is what it’s. However I am simply out right here enjoying golf.”