FORT WORTH, Texas — Davis Riley was practicing a week before the Charles Schwab Challenge when he got an unsettling call that his older sister had a seizure at work, which led to the discovery of a tumor on her brain and surgery the next day.
At the time, he wasn’t sure that he would be able to, or even want to, play in the PGA Tour event at Colonial Country Club.
“When you have somebody that close to you, all the worst-case scenarios are going through your head,” Riley said. “It was certainly a scary feeling thinking about how you could lose your sister.”
The family got a huge sigh of relief when the surgery was successful and the tumor was noncancerous. His parents told him that his sister wanted him to go play.
So Riley did, and the 27-year-old Mississippi native and former University of Alabama standout made his time in Fort Worth special by earning his first individual victory on the tour after playing in the final group Sunday with Masters champion Scottie Scheffler.
Riley closed with a par round of 70 to finish at 14-under 266 in the 72-hole event, five strokes ahead of Scheffler — who still has a dominant lead as the current No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking — and Keegan Bradley.
After beginning the final round with a four-shot lead, Riley gave up a stroke with a bogey on the second hole when he drove into the right rough and then hit into the bunker. That was the closest Scheffler or anybody else would get, with wind gusts of 20 mph and more blowing throughout the day and firm greens challenging the field.
Bradley had a 67, and Scheffler shot a 71 on a day when he didn’t have a birdie until the 13th hole. Two-time major champion Collin Morikawa, the only player in the field to finish all four rounds under par, was fourth at 8 under after his closing 68.
Riley’s only other PGA Tour win came last year, when he and Nick Hardy won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a team event. The win at historic Colonial, which had been completely restored since last year’s tournament, earned Riley $1,638,000, the traditional winner’s plaid jacket and a fully restored and modernized 1975 Corvette Stingray.
His parents were still with his sister and not there to see him win Sunday, but Hardy — who teed off five hours before the final group — greeted him after his final putt, a six-footer for par.
“We’ve got a special friendship, and obviously having our maiden PGA Tour in together was certainly special,” Riley said. “We actually played the first two days together this week. So there’s definitely a level of comfort there. Probably a big reason why I got off to a good start.”
Scheffler was playing close to his Dallas home a week after his arrest in the morning darkness before the second round of the PGA Championship, when police were investigating a pedestrian fatality and arrested and briefly jailed Scheffler, citing failure to follow traffic directions. After tying for eighth at that tournament, the year’s second major championship, Sunday’s results marked the 11th top-10 finish in Scheffler’s 12 tournaments this year.
Baylor School graduate Keith Mitchell (76) tied for 37th at 1 over.
The final round was played on the same day that Grayson Murray’s parents said their 30-year-old son took his own life Saturday, a day after the two-time winner on the PGA Tour had cited illness when withdrawing from the event with two holes left in his second round. The family had insisted to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan that play continue in Fort Worth.
Murray’s family asked for privacy Sunday and that people honor his memory by being kind to one another.
“If that becomes his legacy, we could ask for nothing else,” Eric and Terry Murray said in a statement released by the PGA Tour.
“We have spent the last 24 hours trying to come to terms with the fact that our son is gone. It’s surreal that we not only have to admit it to ourselves, but that we also have to acknowledge it to the world. It’s a nightmare.
“We have so many questions that have no answers. But one. Was Grayson loved? The answer is yes. By us, his brother Cameron, his sister Erica, all of his extended family, by his friends, by his fellow players and — it seems — by many of you who are reading this. He was loved and he will be missed.
“Life wasn’t always easy for Grayson, and although he took his own life, we know he rests peacefully now.”
Riley finished in the top 10 for the first time since being in a three-way playoff at the Sony Open in January, when Murray added a second PGA Tour victory to his 2017 Barbasol Championship triumph.
AP photo by LM Otero / Davis Riley hits from a bunker on the 18th hole at Colonial Country Club during the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge on Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas.Bland wins Senior PGA Championship
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — Richard Bland had a little time off with the LIV Golf League in between tournaments, and the 51-year-old Englishman made it pay off in a major way when he won the Senior PGA Championship in his senior major debut, closing with an 8-under 63 for a three-shot victory at The Golf Club at Harbor Shores.
In a final round delayed by about an hour because of storms, Bland hit what amounted to the winning shot on the par-5 15th hole, an approach that left him a six-footer for eagle. His conversion of the putt took him from one shot behind Greg Chalmers to one shot ahead after Chalmers could only manage a par.
Then the storms hit, but Bland returned to make three pars and post his first victory since the 2021 British Masters, the DP World Tour victory that started Bland on this amazing ride, although he didn’t know it at the time.
Bland did not realize until last year that the Senior PGA Championship offers a one-time exemption to players who have won on the European circuit in the last five years. He couldn’t play because the Senior PGA was held the same week as the LIV tournament in Bedminster, New Jersey. But he asked about this year, and the PGA of America provided the invitation.
“The British Masters was very special at 48. This is right up there. I couldn’t be happier,” said Bland, who finished the 72-hole event at 17-under 267. “I’m going to celebrate the hell out of this one.”
Australia’s Richard Green (65) finished alone in second without ever having a serious of chance of winning.
That opportunity belonged to Chalmers, the left-handed Aussie who had the lead with four holes to play. However, he could only make that par on the 15th, missed the green to the left on the 16th and took two shots to reach it on his way to a bogey, and then dropped another shot on the par-3 17th when he couldn’t save par from the bunker.
Chalmers also bogeyed the 18th, closing out a 68 that left him a shot behind Green and alone in third.
Bland became emotional during the trophy presentation while thinking about his brother, Heath, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer just more than a year ago and learned last week he had cancer in the lungs.
“I just wanted to win for him so bad,” Bland said through tears.
The victory makes him exempt for the U.S. Senior Open on June 27-30 at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island, one week after Bland and his Cleeks team compete in LIV Golf Nashville.
Still unclear is what he will do further down the road. The PGA Tour has banned LIV players, including on the 50-and-older PGA Tour Champions circuit, but Bland is 25th on the LIV points list and still not guaranteed a spot in the Saudi-funded league next year.
“I don’t know how many doors this is going to open,” said Bland, who made $9.8 million since joining LIV when it launched in June 2022. “Obviously, I’m now committed to LIV.”
The Herald-Palladium photo by Don Campbell via AP / Richard Bland tees off on the fourth hole during the final round of the Senior PGA Championship on Sunday in Benton Harbor, Mich.Elvira gets relief with win in Belgium
ANTWERP, Belgium — Nacho Elvira’s favored 2-iron cracked while he was warming up for the final round. He was soaked by a brief torrential downpour. The four-shot lead he had held after Saturday’s play was wiped out after 10 holes Sunday.
Nothing was coming easy for the 37-year-old Spaniard as he tried to wrap up his second DP World Tour victory.
In the end, he just about did enough, with the shortcomings of his challengers taking care of the rest. Elvira parred his final seven holes to hold on for a one-stroke victory, his first win on the Europe-based circuit in three years.
“Such a relief,” Elvira, who is No. 217 in the Official World Golf Ranking, said in a tearful interview afterward.
His closing round of par 71 left him at 18-under 266 in the 72-hole tournament at Rinkven International Golf Club, but he was almost denied the victory by Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard, who had a birdie putt from about 12 feet at No. 18 to force a playoff.
Norgaard missed it right, so he had to settle for a 68 and a tie for second place with Belgium’s Thomas Pieters (66) and France’s Romain Langasque (68). It’s the best career finish for the 31-year-old Norgaard.
Joe Dean, who resorted to delivering groceries earlier this year to make ends meet, started the final round in second place and was tied with Elvira after his opening nine holes. Dean faded, though, shooting 1 over on his back nine for a 69 to tie for fifth at 16 under with Matthew Jordan (65), a fellow Englishman.
Elvira’s other win came at the Cazoo Open in Wales in July 2021, and he said he never felt comfortable Sunday in his chase for a second title, especially without his 2-iron. His pinpoint short game made up for his waywardness off the tee.
“I was trying to keep it in play somehow, and it paid off,” said Elvira, who had to endure an agonizing wait on the 18th green after his birdie putt shaved the cup and gave Norgaard one final chance.
AP file photo by Vincent Phoon / Nacho Elvira won the DP World Tour’s Soudal Open on Sunday in Antwerp, Belgium. It’s the 37-year-old Spaniard’s second career win on the Europe-based circuit but first since the Cazoo Open in July 2021.