Byrd wins at Deere
Jonathan Byrd birdied three of the final five holes and shot a 5-under 66 Sunday to win the John Deere Classic at Silivis, Ill., and qualify for the British Open.
It was the third PGA Tour victory for Byrd, who finished the tournament at 18-under 266 – one stroke ahead of Tim Clark (68). Third-round leader Nathan Green (71) finished in a tie for third with Troy Matteson (66), three strokes back.
Byrd, who won the 2002 Buick Challenge and the 2004 B.C. Open, moved into a tie with Green with a birdie on 17. Clark found a bunker on 17 and sent a 6-foot putt for par wide left for a bogey that put him at 17 under and in second place.
Byrd finished with a par on 18, meaning Clark needed a birdie to force a playoff. That didn’t happen.
Instead, Byrd watched as Clark’s approach on the par-4 hole settled on the left edge of the green – just under 71 feet from the cup. His putt for birdie rolled wide left, giving Byrd the victory.
Early on, Clark appeared poised to earn his first tour victory.
Although he took several cortisone shots for neck pain two weeks ago and was still not 100 percent this weekend, he was healthy enough to birdie the final three holes Saturday to finish at 14 under. That put him within a shot of Green.
Clark birdied four of the first nine on Sunday to go 18 under and take a three-stroke lead.
Clark went ahead by one stroke with a birdie on No. 3, his second of the round. He tapped in to go 16 under after he nearly aced the hole. Green fell to 15 under when he missed a 13-foot putt for par and settled for bogey. He moved back into a tie with a birdie on No. 4, but slid out of contention from there.
A bogey on 7 put him at 15 under, and another on 12 left him 1 over for the day and in a tie for third at 14 under.
Byrd made a late push with birdies on 14 and 16 to go 17 under. Clark, who was in the final pairing with Green, was at 18 under after a bogey on 15. Things got interesting when he drove his tee shot on 16 into a bunker to the left of the green. He dug out and knocked in a short putt to save par and remain in the lead, but it didn’t last.
Green, 32, was in good position to earn his first tour victory and become the third Australian in four years to take the Deere Classic, but he could not sustain the momentum built the previous two days.
LPGA
Morgan Pressel’s hole-in-one sure got Se Ri Pak’s attention.
Trailing briefly by three strokes after Pressel aced the sixth hole, Pak regained the lead with a birdie at the 15th hole and held on to tie an LPGA record with her fifth win at the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic in Sylvania, Ohio.
Pak, who previously won the Farr in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2003, matched Mickey Wright, who won the Sea Island Open in 1957-58, ‘60, ‘62-‘63, and Annika Sorenstam, who has won both the Samsung World Championship and Mizuno Classic tournaments five times each.
The 29-year-old Pak, who has already qualified for induction to the Hall of Fame, has 24 career victories. She followed rounds of 63, 68 and 69 with a 67 to finish at 17-under 267 and collect the $195,000 winner’s check. Pressel closed with a 69 and was three shots back at 270.
Scottish Open
Phil Mickelson bogeyed the 18th hole twice at the Scottish Open to put himself in a playoff and then allow Gregory Havret to win the title at Luss, Scotland.
Mickelson, seeking his first victory outside the United States since 1993, led by a stroke going into the 72nd hole of the tournament at Loch Lomond, but a poor drive went into the rough.
After his bogey left him with a 2-under 69 and at 270 total, the two-time Masters champion drove into deeper rough when he and Havret (68) replayed the hole in the playoff. Mickelson bogeyed again, while Havret won with a par.
Mickelson’s bogey on the 72nd was his third in five holes. He also had bogeys at the 14th and 16th, but came back with birdies at the 15th and 17th.
Ernie Els (65) finished third with a 40-foot birdie on the final hole.
Champions Tour
R.W. Eaks, who never finished better than seventh in a PGA Tour event and was winless in 90 events over six seasons on the Champions Tour, shot a 6-under 66 to win the inaugural Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, N.Y.
Eaks, a self-taught golfer from Colorado who has five runer-up finishes the past two years, completed the three rounds over the narrow and tricky En-Joie Golf Club course at 17-under 199. Tour rookie Bruce Vaughan provided the only real challenge. But Vaughan (68) never mounted a charge over the closing holes and finished second, three shots behind.
Celebrity Championship
Former NFL quarterback Chris Chandler won the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship, making seven birdies in a nine-hole stretch to beat six-time winner and former major league pitcher Rick Rhoden by five points in the modified Stableford event at Stateline, Nev.
Chandler finished with eight birdies and three bogeys for a 5-under 67 and had a tournament-record 78 points in the modified scoring system that puts a premium on birdies and eagles.
Former NHL goalie Grant Fuhr was third with 70 points, followed by former quarterbacks Mark Rypien (68) and Billy Joe Tolliver (65).