LAS VEGAS — J.T. Poston used a burst of birdies to build a comfortable lead in the morning and afternoon, first for a three-shot advantage after 54 holes and then to give himself a big enough cushion to hold on for a 4-under-par 67 and a one-shot victory Sunday in the Shriners Children’s Open.
Poston did not trail after making a 20-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole when he returned to finish the third round. He had two more birdies for a 66 to build a three-shot lead.
He made three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the back nine of the final round and led by four shots with three holes to play. Poston still had to sweat it out to the very last putt.
Doug Ghim closed with a 65, making a six-foot birdie putt on the final hole at TPC Summerlin to close within one stroke. Poston lagged his 45-foot birdie putt to four feet and calmly sank that for his third career win on the PGA. He finished at 22-under 262 in the 72-hole tournament.
The winning putt felt a little longer because Poston missed a six-foot birdie putt on the 16th and a four-foot par putt on the 17th, either of which would have put the tournament away.
“I just told myself, ‘This is what you dream of, a putt to win on the PGA Tour. Try to forget the last two,'” Poston said. “I told myself, ‘I’ve made a million of these. Just do one more.'”
The victory assures Poston of returning to the Masters for the third straight year and moving back inside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He was playing for the first time since August at the BMW Championship — the second event of the FedEx Cup playoffs — wanting to spend time at home with a daughter born in March.
This was a happy return for the 31-year-old from North Carolina, who already was guaranteed being in the PGA Tour’s $20 million signature events next year because he finished among the top 50 in the FedEx Cup. This gives him an early start at The Sentry, the season-opening tournament held in Hawaii each January.
Ghim’s runner-up showing is his best finish yet on the PGA Tour, but he had his chances at a breakthrough win after making an eagle on the par-5 ninth hole to pull within one shot. He missed a pair of birdie putts from eight feet and then failed to get up and down for a birdie on the reachable par-4 15th as Poston was pulling away.
Ghim two-putted the par-5 16th, picked up another shot when Poston bogeyed the par 3 and then birdied the last to force Poston to make one last putt.
Poston felt the entire day was a struggle, even though he went 41 consecutive holes without a bogey until his short miss on the 17th, and led the final 23 holes of the tournament.
“I wasn’t quite as sharp with the scoring clubs,” Poston said. “It felt like a grind all day. I know I had a comfortable lead, but I never felt safe. Doug was playing great, and I felt like I was just plodding around.”
Matti Schmid continued his strong play in the FedEx Cup fall schedule, closing with a 66 to tie for third with Rico Hoey (66).
Schmid was No. 125 in the FedEx Cup — the top 125 keep a full PGA Tour card for 2025 — when he tied for 16th in Mississippi, finished fifth last week in Utah and tied for third in Las Vegas. He now is up to No. 77.
Baylor School graduate Harris English shot his second straight 68 to finish at 16 under and tie for ninth, his first top-10 finish since the Sony Open in Hawaii in mid-January.
Luke List, another Baylor grad, closed with a 66 to tie for 41st at 9 under.
The PGA Tour next heads to Japan for the Zozo Championship, which has a 78-man field with no cut, before returning to North America for three tournaments to close out the year.
AP file photo by Charlie Neibergall / Tim O’Neal earned the first victory of his PGA Tour Champions career Sunday at the Domininion Energy Charity Classic at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond.O’Neal: ‘This was my week’
RICHMOND, Va. — Tim O’Neal made two birdies on the last three holes and closed with a 7-under 65 to earn the first win of his PGA Tour Champions career, a two-shot victory over Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez in the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.
O’Neal had a one-shot lead for much of the back nine at the Country Club of Virginia until he delivered two of his best shots, a wedge into six feet on the par-5 16th and another wedge that landed next to the hole and spun back to five feet on the par-5 18th.
Gonzalez missed three birdie chances inside 10 feet down the stretch, forcing him to make an eagle on the closing hole to get into a playoff. He missed the fairway to the left, hit a hook into the bunker and had to settle for a par and a 69.
For O’Neal, this was a long time coming. The 52-year-old from Savannah, Georgia, was best know for a pair of heartaches in Q School as he tried to get onto the PGA Tour, the most crushing in 2000 when he needed just a bogey on the last hole and instead made a triple.
He never earned a PGA Tour card, winning three times on the Latin America circuit and three more times on smaller European tours.
“It only takes one week, and this was my week,” O’Neal said as he tried to hold back tears.
This was a good week for him to break through. He was one of three players who moved into the top 54 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings to advance to the second postseason event next week in Arkansas. O’Neal went from No. 55 to No. 13, assuring he will be among the top 36 who play in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
“For me to get it done when I had to, that means a lot,” O’Neal said.
He is among the more popular players on the senior circuit, with players coming over to congratulate him even as Gonzalez was coming up the 18th fairway.
O’Neal’s 65 was the low round of this year’s tournament, and he finished the 54-hole event at 13-under 203.
He was one shot ahead on the 16th when Gonzalez, playing in the group behind him, hit a wedge to three feet for a certain birdie. O’Neal hit it tight to assure he would stay one ahead, and then he played a perfect wedge into the 18th that all but sealed it.
Australia’s David Brandson shot a 67 to finish third and move into the top 54, while Paul Goydos birdied three of his last four holes for a 70 to tie for fifth and move up 11 spots to No. 48.
Chris DiMarco, Kirk Triplett and Angel Cabrera dropped out of the top 54 in the Schwab Cup, ending their season.
AP file photo by Kamran Jebreili / Julien Guerrier survived a nine-hole playoff at the Andalucía Masters on Sunday to earn his first win on the DP World Tour in his 230th start.Record-tying playoff
SAN ROQUE, Spain — Julien Guerrier needed nine playoff holes in his 230th start on the DP World Tour to secure his first victory on the Europe-based circuit.
The 39-year-old Frenchman made an eight-foot par putt on the ninth extra hole — which tied the tour’s record for longest playoff — to beat Spain’s Jorge Campillo and win the Andalucía Masters after they were tied at 21-under 267 through 72 holes of regulation play.
“I’m feeling great, and I can’t believe I made it. Because it’s been a really long time I’ve been waiting for it,” Guerrier said. “We work really hard every week for that, but we have to stay patient.”
Guerrier forced the playoff by making a 16-foot par putt on the 18th for a final round of 2-under 70. Campillo also shot 70 in a round that included three bogeys on his final seven holes, including on the 18th to open the door for Guerrier.
“On the last putt, I was thinking of my kids to give me the strength to hit it, so thanks to my family and my team,” Guerrier said. “It’s a long wait, and I’m very happy.”
Guerrier’s coach, Raphael Jacquelin, won a nine-hole playoff at the Open de España in 2013. The other DP World Tour event decided by a nine-hole playoff was the 1989 Dutch Open won by Spain’s Jose María Olazábal.
England’s Dan Brown finished third at 19 under after closing with a 69 at Real Club de Golf Sotogrande. Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard (67) and England’s Jordan Smith (68) tied for fourth at 18 under.
Spanish star Jon Rahm, who won this year’s LIV Golf League individual title but was playing in his third European event in the past four weeks, finished four shots off the lead and shared sixth place after a final-round 67
Rahm, No. 14 in the Official World Golf Ranking, was the top player in the tournament, which marks the final event of the year on European soil for the tour.
Still ahead are the Genesis Championship that starts Thursday in South Korea, as well as two events next month in United Arab Emirates: the Abu Dhabi Championship and the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
AP photo by Lee Jin-man / Hannah Green celebrates on the 18th hole at Seowon Valley Country Club after winning the BMW Ladies Championship on Sunday in Paju, South Korea.Green never trails
PAJU, South Korea — Australia’s Hannah Green closed with a 1-under 71 to win the BMW Ladies Championship, her sixth career win on the LPGA Tour and her third this season.
The 27-year-old Green finished at 19-under 269 in the 72-hole tournament and led or shared the lead after all four rounds.
France’s Celine Boutier of France finished one stroke back after a closing 66. Thailand’s Chanettee Wannasaen (68) was another shot back in third, while two South Korean players tied for fourth at 16 under: Hye-Jin Choi (67) and Yu Jin Sung (72).
The field was loaded with eight of the top 10 LPGA players. The most notable absence was No. 1-ranked Nelly Korda, who withdrew before the event with a neck injury.
The tournament also included 17 of the 18 winners from events this season.