PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Taylor Moore was never really the star attraction Sunday at the Valspar Championship.
At least not until he had finished hitting all the right shots and posed with the trophy for his first PGA Tour victory, which sends him to the Masters next month.
Adam Schenk and Jordan Spieth provided enough compelling theater for so much of the day, locked in a battle on the back nine of the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort. When it was over, all they shared was misfortune.
Moore surged into the mix with a 9-iron shot to five feet for a birdie on the 15th hole and a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole, followed by two tough pars for a closing round of 4-under-par 67.
That turned out to be a winner when Spieth hit his tee shot into the water on the 16th and Schenk, going for his first PGA Tour victory, hit a drive on the final hole that settled next to a large pine tree. He made a bogey and finished one shot behind.
The 29-year-old Moore, who grew up outside Oklahoma City, was on the practice range anticipating a playoff when he realized he had won the 72-hole tournament at 10-under 274.
"I might have been under the radar to some people watching, but I felt like I was in the golf tournament from the time I teed off today and was just excited to control what I could control and get it done," Moore said.
The victory sends him to Augusta National Golf Club in three weeks for the year's first major championship, a welcome addition to his schedule.
Spieth was tied for the lead when he sent his tee shot into the water on the 16th and managed to stay in the game by getting up and down from 163 yards to salvage a bogey. On the par-3 17th, which yielded only two birdies all day, Spieth hit 4-iron to six feet — only to miss the birdie putt.
England's Tommy Fleetwood was part of a three-way tie early on the back nine until he took a bogey on the par-5 14th. Spieth didn't realize anyone else was in the mix.
"I thought it was me and Adam. I thought it was down to us two," Spieth said. "I was thinking it was Tommy one back of us with a few holes to go, and so I thought we could still kind of control it from the last group. Then I saw 10 (under) was posted walking off 16 green."
The real heartbreak belonged to Schenk, whose wife flew down to Florida for the final round a month before she is due with their first child. Schenk holed a 70-foot birdie putt on the 12th hole. He made tough par saves on the 16th and 17th holes to stay tied.
On the 18th, however, he pulled his tee shot to the left. It was roughly the same line as Moore had hit his tee shot earlier, only Schenk's ball rolled through the gallery and stopped next to a pine tree.
His only shot was hitting an inverted gap wedge left-handed, and it was a dandy, shooting across the fairway into the rough. His third shot came up just short of a ridge and rolled onto the fringe 40 feet away. The par putt to force a playoff hit the hole, but had too much pace and hopped out.
Schenk, playing for the 10th consecutive week so he can take time off when his son is born, closed with a 70.
"It stinks to get so close," he said.
Spieth missed a par putt on the 18th that was worth FedEx Cup points and money, signed for a 70 and tied for third with Fleetwood (70).
Lee wins playoff
MARANA, Ariz. — Danny Lee made birdies on his final two holes for a 2-under 69, then won the LIV Golf Tucson tournament on the second hole of a four-man playoff by making a 25-foot birdie putt from off the 18th green for his first victory in nearly eight years.
It was the second playoff in LIV Golf League since the series began last summer. Dustin Johnson won a playoff last year in the event held near Boston.
Lee finished at 9-under 275 after 54 holes of regulation play and got into the playoff with Carlos Ortiz (65), Brendan Steele (70) and Louis Oosthuizen (70). Oosthuizen bogeyed the par-5 17th to fall one behind, only to birdie the 18th to join the playoff.
Lee nearly squandered a great chance to win on the first playoff hole when he put his approach shot five feet from the cup on No. 18 on the first extra hole. He pushed it to the right.
Ortiz was eliminated after the first extra hole when he went long off the 18th green, chipped to six feet and missed the par putt.
Going back to the 18th hole, Lee again looked as though he wasted a good opportunity when his approach from the fairway missed the green to the right, leaving him a tough spot with the pin all the way to the right side of the green.
Oosthuizen and Steele both missed long birdie putts. Lee chose to use his putter, even though he was some 10 feet off the green. He gave it a rap and it was going fast when it rattled against the pin and disappeared for the winner.
"I haven't won since 2015. I thought winning just not my thing. Today has changed that," said Lee, who signed with LIV in February, when he was No. 267 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Ortiz led the Fireballs to the team victory, winning handily over the 4 Aces with Lee's Ironheads team coming in third.
LIV Golf photo by Sam Greenwood via AP / Danny Lee reacts to making his playoff-winning putt on the 18th hole Sunday at the LIV Golf Tucson tournament in Arizona.Grip, grin and win
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Ernie Els kept making birdies no matter how he gripped the putter, and it carried him to a closing 6-under 65 to win the Hoag Classic and deny Bernhard Langer a chance at taking sole possession of the record for PGA Tour Champions career victories.
The 53-year-old Els started the final round five shots behind German star Langer, but then the big South African rolled in three straight birdie putts to get in the mix, and he closed it out with a 65-yard bunker shot to 12 feet and a birdie on the 18th hole about the time Langer began to falter.
The 65-year-old Langer has 45 career wins on the 50-and-older tour, tied for the most with Hale Irwin. Langer began the final round with a one-shot lead and picked up an early birdie. He was still tied for the lead when he made two bogeys on the back nine, and he failed to make birdie on the par 5s.
Langer finished with a 2-over 73 and tied for seventh, three shots behind Els' total of 13-under 200 in the 54-hole tournament.
Els won for the first time since October 2020, and the World Golf Hall of Famer never had a win quite like this. He had been practicing with the "saw" putting grip at home in Florida last week, but he wasn't sure about whether to try it in a tournament. He changed in the middle of the event, and then after missing a few, went back to a cross-handed grip.
Either way, he was making enough putts to become a winner again.
"It's still a work in progress," Els said.
His biggest challenge after he finished came from Steve Stricker and Doug Barron. Stricker, who leads the season-long Charles Schwab Cup standings, made birdies on the 14th and 15th, but he missed chances coming in and his birdie on the 18th for a 67 left him one behind.
Barron also finished one back after finishing with six straight pars for a 70.
Long time coming
ST. FRANCIS BAY, South Africa — Matthew Baldwin secured his first DP World Tour win in dominant fashion, storming to a seven-shot victory at the SDC Championship.
The 37-year-old English golfer closed with a 4-under 68 at St. Francis Links to finish the 72-hole tournament at 18-under 270 as his challengers fell away.
There was no pressure on him as he came home, but Baldwin still collected five birdies against just one bogey in his final round, breaking through 11 years after he first earned his card to play on the Europe-based circuit.
He had to put his career on hold in 2015 because of illness and lost his card the following year. His comeback to the tour was then delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and he said his long-awaited victory was dedicated to his stepfather, who died last year.
"I'm not 100% sure what's just happened,"Baldwin said. "It's been a tough few years, so obviously to get the win means absolutely everything. I can't process it right now, but it just means the world to me."
Spain's Adri Arnaus (67) was the runner-up, with five players sharing third at 10 under: South Africa's Jaco Ahlers (68), Sweden's Jens Dantorp (70), Scotland's Ewen Ferguson (68), Norway's Kristian Krogh Johannessen (72) and France's Antoine Rozner (68).