Garrick Higgo won the Palmetto Championship at Congaree for his first PGA Tour triumph Sunday when leader Chesson Hadley blew a two-shot lead with bogeys on his last three holes.
The 22-year-old South African shot a 3-under 68 and completed at 11 under in his second career tour event. Prepare to see a greater amount of him. The triumph, alongside $1,314,000, gives him PGA Tour status through the 2023 season.
“It’s amazing,” Higgo said. “I just stayed patient all week.”
It was a heartbreaking finish for Hadley, apparently in charge at 13 under with three openings to play. Be that as it may, he crashed into a waste area on the 16th and couldn’t get all over subsequent to missing the 17th and 18th greens to part with triumph.
“I can only imagine what it looked like on TV because it looked freaking awful from my view,” Hadley said. “I mean, I could barely keep it on the planet.”
Hadley finished with a 75 in the wake of opening 65-66-68. He fell into a tie for second at 10 under with Hudson Swafford (66), Doc Redman (67), Jhonattan Vegas (67), Tyrrell Hatton (68) and Bo Van Pelt (68).
After an even par front-nine, Higgo had a eagle on the par-5 12th and birdie on the fourteenth to get to 11 under — two shots toward the rear of Hadley.
Higgo likewise saved standard from 10 feet away on the 71st hole in the wake of missing the fairway with his initial two shots.
When Higgo tapped in for par on the 18th, he took off to sit tight for a potential playoff. Ends up, he didn’t require the additional reps as Hadley missed a 10-footer for standard to tumble to give the rising youthful player his first signature win.
Higgo took off his sunglasses and grinned when recounted his triumph, then, at that point embraced his caddie to celebrate.
To-ranked Dustin Johnson made a run at the top late in the round, going inside a shot Hadley after birdies on the 10th, 12th and 13th holes. His odds finished with a triple intruder on the sixteenth opening and he finished with a 70 to tie for 10th.
Van Pelt made birdie on the fifteenth to get to 12 under, then, at that point gave it directly back with an bogey on No. 16.
LPGA Tour
Matilda Castren became the first Finnish victor in LPGA Tour history in the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship, pulling away on the front-nine at foggy Lake Merced and holding off Min Lee by two strokes.
“Oh, my God. I can’t believe it’s happening,” Castren said. “I mean, I knew one day it would be me, but you didn’t think it was going to be so soon. But I’m obviously so happy right now.”
Two strokes behind Lee entering the last day of the tour’s two-week run on the San Francisco Peninsula, Castren birdied the first three openings, eagled the standard 5 fifth and birdied the standard 5 10th for a front-nine 30.
Castern followed with eight straight pars and holed a 3-foot birdie putt on the par 5 18th for a 7-under 65. The 26-year-old former Florida State won in her fifteenth vocation LPGA Tour start. She completed at 14-under 274 subsequent to tying for 30th last week in the U.S. Ladies’ Open at close by Olympic Club.
“I just played shot by shot, hole by hole, and just tried to stay really patient,” Castren said. “I was thinking about it the whole day, like winning, and I just tried to focus on one shot at a time. It just happened.”
Lee got done with a 69. She slice Castren’s lead to one with a birdie on the par-5 15th, yet dropped a stroke with a two-putt bogey on the par-3 17th.
Champions Tour
Jerry Kelly successfully defended his title in his old hometown American Insurance Championship, closing with a 6-under 66 for a one-stroke triumph over Fred Couples and Miguel Angel Jimenez.
The 54-year-old Kelly finished at 14-under 202 at University Ridge for his eighth PGA Tour Champions victory.
Couples came up short the standard 5 eighteenth for a 68. The 61-year-old Couples won the 2017 competition for the remainder of his 13 senior titles.
Jimenez, the leader after every one of the first two rounds, shot a 69.
Jim Furyk (68) and Retief Goosen (68) tied for fourth at 12 under.