Scheffler opens season with win at PGA West, his 20th on PGA Tour. Reed takes Dubai Desert Classic
LA QUINTA, Calif. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler started his season as though nothing had changed, running off four birdies in a six-hole stretch Sunday to blow past 18-year-old Blades Brown and the rest of the field. He closed with a 6-under 66 for a four-shot victory in The American Express.
Scheffler won for the 20th time on the PGA Tour — all in the last four years — to earn a lifetime membership. More indicative of his dominance in the game is winning nine of those 20 tournaments by four shots or more.
Scheffler has 20 wins and four majors before turning 30. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are the only other players to have done that.
The world’s No. 1 player shared the stage with Brown, who finished high school two weeks ago and played in a Korn Ferry Tour event in the Bahamas that finished Wednesday. He’s the first player to play eight straight days of PGA Tour-sanctioned competition.
Whether the fatigue caught up with him or simply the moment — he was trying to become the youngest PGA Tour winner in 95 years — it ended quickly.
Brown was one shot behind 54-hole leader Si Woo Kim and one shot ahead of Scheffler heading to the tee at the par-3 fourth on the Stadium Course at PGA West. Five holes later, Brown and Kim both were five shots behind and Scheffler was putting it into overdrive.
Brown went 11 holes without a birdie and had to late bogeys that led to a 74. He fell from a tie for second to a tie for 18th, costing him a spot at Torrey Pines next week.
Jason Day closed with a 64 that moved him up 18 spots to a runner-up finish, along with Ryan Gerard (65), Matt McCarty (68) and Andrew Putnam (68).
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European tour
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Patrick Reed kept everyone at bay and closed with an even-par 72 for a four-shot victory in the Dubai Desert Classic, his first European tour title that moves him back into the top 30 in the world for the first time since he joined LIV Golf.
Reed also made enough money from the Rolex Series event that it should cover his European tour fines for playing in the Saudi-backed rival league, assuming he can sort out a new LIV contract.
Reed revealed he is still negotiating a new contract to play on LIV, which starts on Feb. 4 in Saudi Arabia. The 35-year-old American, who is playing the European tour next week in Bahrain, said he fully expects to be with LIV and a contract may already have been sorted out. His focus was only on golf this week, and he took care of business.
Any drama at Emirates Golf Club didn’t last long. Reed seized control with middle rounds of 66 and 67 to build a four-shot lead over David Puig of Spain going into the last day. Reed finished at 14-under 274 for his 12th title worldwide,
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PGA Tour Champions
KA’UPULEHU-KONA, Hawaii (AP) — Stewart Cink won the PGA Tour Champions’ season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship on Saturday, closing with an 8-under 63 for a three-stroke victory.
The 52-year-old Cink finished at 23-under 193 at Hualalai. He won his second straight event after closing last season with a victory in Phoenix in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. He has five senior titles.
Ángel Cabrera was second after a 66. Retief Goosen shot a 64 to finish third at 18 under, and Ernie Els (67), Thomas Bjorn (66) and Freddie Jacobson (70) were 17 under. Sixty-six-year-old Fred Couples was 15 under after a 70.
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Other tours
Benjamin Follett-Smith of Zimbabwe won his third Sunshine Tour title, closing with a 4-under 66 for a one-stroke victory in the Cell C Challenge in Honour of Gary Player. Playing in front of Player, he finished at 15 under at Killarney Country Club. Haydn Porteous was second after a 70. … Jordan Doull won the Webex Players Series Victoria for his second Challenger Tour of Australasia title, outlasting Marcus Fraser with a birdiue on the fourth hole of a playoff. They finished at 12 under at Rosebud Country Club.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf