AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AM

Walker’s runaway becomes squeaker

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - The finish wasn’t what Jimmy Walker wanted. The result is what he’s come to expect.

Walker led by as many as six shots Sunday in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, only for it to be decided by his final putt. He ran his birdie attempt 5 feet by the hole, and had to make that for par to close with a 2-over 74 and a one-shot win over Dustin Johnson and Jim Renner.

“It’s drama, man,” Walker said on the 18th green. “It was too much for me.”

But it was a familiar outcome for Walker, a 35-year old Texan who only four months ago was regarded as one of the best players to have never won on the PGA Tour. This was his third victory of the PGA Tour season, a streak that began in October about an hour away at the Frys.com Open.

Walker is only the fourth player in the past 20 years to win three times in his first eight starts to a season. The others are Tiger Woods (who has done it eight times), Phil Mickelson and David Duval.

But near the end, it looked like Walker might have a chance to join Greg Norman and Sergio Garcia as players to lose a six-shot lead in the final round.

He was never seriously challenged until Johnson, and then Renner, put together a strong finish. Johnson, a two-time winner at Pebble Beach, closed with a 66 on a card that included three bogeys. Renner, who had yet to make a cut all year, made five birdies on the back nine for a 67.

Walker made a 10-foot birdie on the 11th hole and was seemingly on his way.

But he hit a poor chip on the par-3 12th for a bogey. He three-putted the 13th for a bogey. He settled down for three simple pars and was two shots clear with two to play. Walker three-putted the 17th, missing a 3½-foot par putt. He tried to play it safe on the 18th with an iron off the tee that found the right rough.

From 25 feet above the hole, he hit the birdie putt too hard and had one anxious moment.

“I hate three-putting,” Walker said. “I had two of them back there, and definitely didn’t want another one on the last.”

Walker finished on 11-under 277 and earned $1.188 million, expanding his lead in the Ryder Cup standings to more than $1 million over Mickelson in second place. The Ryder Cup is based on PGA Tour earnings, though there are still four majors (which count double), three World Golf Championships and The Players Championship remaining.

Bryce Molder (Conway) shot a 2-under 70 and finished in a tie for 10th place, earning $165,000.

Scott Gardiner (Farmington) had one of the better days Sunday, firing a 4-under 68 to get into 13th place. He earned $116,600.

CHAMPIONS

Allen wins in playoff

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Michael Allen won the Allianz Championship on Sunday for his sixth Champions Tour title, beating Duffy Waldorf with a two-putt birdie on the second hole of a playoff.

Waldorf had a chance to extend the playoff after Allen’s birdie, but missed an 8-foot birdie putt after finding the front bunker in two.

Allen closed with a 3-under 69 to match Waldorf at 18-under 198 on The Old Course at Broken Sound. Waldorf, winless on the 50-and-old tour after winning four times on the PGA Tour, shot 67.

They each birdied the 18th in regulation and on the first extra hole.

Allen shot a 60 in Friday’s first round, the ninth player to post that number on the Champions Tour. A missed 4-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole Sunday cost Allen a chance to win in regulation.

PGA EUROPEAN

Coetzee rallies back

JOHANNESBURG - George Coetzee came from four shots back to win the Joburg Open, his first European Tour title, and a place at the British Open on a profitable Sunday for the South African.

Coetzee’s f inal-round 6-under 66, with six birdies and no bogeys, took him to 19-under 268 overall and past compatriots Thomas Aiken and Justin Walters, the overnight co-leaders.

Coetzee, 27, was flawless on the East Course at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club to clinch his maiden title in his 107th tour event, a sequence that included 24 top-10 finishes.

Coetzee won by three shots from England’s Tyrrell Hatton (66), South Korea’s Jin Jeong (71) and Walters(73), who needed an eagle on the last to take Coetzee to a playoff and made bogey instead. Jeong and Walters claimed the other two British Open places on offer at Royal Joburg, with Hatton missing out because his world ranking was lower than the two he tied with for second, the European Tour said.

AUSTRALIAN LADIES MASTERS Tiger’s niece wins first

GOLD COAST, Australia - Cheyenne Woods won the Australian Ladies Masters on Sunday for her first major professional tour victory, holding off 17-year-old Australian amateur Minjee Lee by two strokes.

Woods, Tiger Woods’ niece, closed with a 4-under 69 at Royal Pines to finish at 16-under 276. Lee also shot 69 in the event sanctioned by the European and Australian tours.

A birdie on the par-5 15th opened a two-stroke lead for Woods, 23, who hit a wedge from about 120 yards to 4 feet. On the par-5 18th, she matched Lee with a birdie, holing out from 1½ feet.

Woods is the daughter of Earl Woods Jr., Tiger Woods’ half brother.

Woods turned professional in 2012 after an All-America career at Wake Forest and her only previous pro victory came in 2012 in a SunCoast mini-tour event. In December, she missed the cut in the LPGA Tour’s qualifying tournament in a failed bid to earn a spot on the circuit.

Sports, Pages 13 on 02/10/2014

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