Frazar earns first PGA title
Harrison Frazar won his first PGA Tour title in his 355th tournament, beating Robert Karlsson with a par on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff Sunday at the St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn.
Frazar won a month before turning 40 when Karlsson pushed a par-saving putt 3 feet past the hole.
Now the man who was roommates at Texas with Justin Leonard has the biggest paycheck of his career, taking home $1,008,000 after missing a chance to win on the 72nd hole when he made his first bogey of the day. He shot a 3-under 67 to match Karlsson (68) at 13 under.
“I never thought it would happen to be honest with you,” Frazar said after his victory.
Frazar became the seventh first-time winner on tour this year and the first to win his first title in Memphis since Dicky Pride in 1994.
Karlsson led after the second and third rounds. Now the Swede has lost in a playoff at the TPC Southwind course for a second straight year.
Camilo Villegas (64) tied for third with Tim Herron, Ryuji Imada, Charles Howell and Retief Goosen.
LPGA
Top-ranked Yani Tseng won what could be the final LPGA State Farm Classic, closing with a 4-under 68 in Springfield, Ill., to hand Cristie Kerr her third straight second-place finish.
Tseng, from Taiwan, had a 21-under 267 total on the Panther Creek course for her seventh tour title in four years. She also won the season-opening LPGA Thailand and three other worldwide events this year.
Kerr, the 2010 winner, finished three strokes back, shooting a 67. Paula Creamer and Brittany Lincicome (70) tied for third at 16 under.
Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., shot a 70 for a 274 total, finishing seventh.
Title sponsor State Farm Insurance Companies had declined to renew its commitment after this year and a replacement sponsor has yet to be found.
Champions Tour
Mark Wiebe parred the third playoff hole following a weather delay and won the Greater Hickory Classic in Conover, N.C., when James Mason missed a 4-foot par putt.
Both players birdied the 18th in regulation to finish at a tournament-record 19 under. That move them past clubhouse leader Fred Funk, who shot 62, and finished tied for third with Chip Beck.
Bob Tway, who led by one shot after the first and second rounds, faded after a double-bogey on the sixth. He shot 71 and finished tied for eighth.