CROMWELL, Conn. - For Xander Schauffele, securing the sixth PGA Tour win of his career required looking inward to avoid squandering a sudden surge of momentum in his direction.
He more than managed.
Schauffele won the Travelers Championship with a three-stroke swing on the final hole Sunday, hitting to three feet for a birdie after rookie Sahith Theegala took two shots to get out of a bunker and made a double bogey in the group ahead.
A stroke ahead entering the day, Schauffele finished with a 2-under-par 68 at TPC River Highlands to finish at 19-under 261 and beat Theegala (67) and J.T. Poston (64) by two strokes.
"My mind was telling me to hit a good drive and then use your sand wedge or lob wedge in there and make birdie," Schauffele said. "To sit there and watch what happened was a bit of a shock, obviously. I really had to try and focus on the task at hand."
The 28-year-old American, the gold medalist at last year's Tokyo Olympics, won for the second time this season after teaming with Patrick Cantlay to take the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April.
"This is my sixth year on tour, and you just know that no one's going to give it to you, not out here on the PGA Tour. No one is going to hand you a win," Schauffele said. "I was very aware of that and ready to birdie the last, and I thought that was going to be to get in a playoff. So just lucky it was to make me on top."
Theegala had grabbed a share of the lead on 15, driving the green on the par-4 hole and making a four-foot birdie putt. He pumped his fist after making an 11-footer for a birdie on 17 to overtake Schauffele, who missed a 27-footer on that hole before saving par.
However, Theegala hit his tee shot on 18 left and into the front lip of a fairway bunker. The 24-year-old former Pepperdine star needed two tries to get out the bunker.
"I don't know how it looked, but I had room there" he said. "Just didn't think I would let myself blade it ... and then from there it's, like, got to try and make 5 now."
The tour rookie's 12-foot bogey putt lipped out, and he fell to his knees in agony.
"Everything bad culminated on one hole," he said. "I did so much good."
Michael Thorbjornsen - an amateur from nearby Wellesley, Massachusetts, who plays for Stanford - was fourth at 15 under after a 66. Chesson Hadley (64) was another stroke back in fifth, and Kevin Kisner (71) and Keith Mitchell (67) shared sixth at 12 under.
It's the second straight top-10 result for Mitchell, who tied for seventh at the Canadian Open two weeks earlier, and he was one of three Baylor School graduates in the top 20 on Sunday. Harris English (71) - the 2021 tournament champion - and Luke List (65) were part of the tie for 19th at 9 under.
List had the shot of the day, opening his round with a 119-yard approach on No. 1 that took a short bounce into the hole for an eagle.
Harrington holds on
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Padraig Harrington holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the 15th just when the last of his five-shot lead was about to vanish, and he closed with three tough pars for a 1-over 72 to hold off Steve Stricker and win the U.S. Senior Open.
The 50-year-old Irishman never lost the lead at Saucon Valley Country Club on a day when he made it hard on himself.
Stricker, who started the final round eight shots behind, began making his run with consecutive birdies to finish the front nine, and he closed with two straight birdies for a 65. That left him one shot behind, and Harrington needed only pars to win for the first time on the PGA Tour Champions. It wasn't easy.
He had to two-putt from above the ridge on the 16th, and he trickled it down to a foot. He was well below the ridge from about 50 feet away on the par-3 17th, and after running that by six feet, calmly rolled in the par putt.
On the closing hole, he was pin high but some 35 feet away with a spine running through the line of his putt. He cozied that to three feet and rapped it in for the win at 10-under 274. He is the third straight player to win the U.S. Senior Open in his debut, following Jim Furyk last year and Stricker in 2019.
"It's tough to lead from the front," Harrington said. "It's even tougher when it's Steve Stricker behind you. He tends to have one on me. I'm happy enough to get it done in the end."
Australia's Mark Hensby had a 69 to finish alone in third at 4 under.
Chun by a stroke
BETHESDA, Md. - In Gee Chun was an upbeat, smiling presence throughout the Women's PGA Championship, which is easy enough when you open with a 64 and lead comfortably for much of the tournament.
In the final round, all of her positive thinking was put to the test.
"Golf is never easy," the 27-year-old South Korean said.
Chun won her third major championship, playing her best in the first round on a wet Thursday and then persevering through a steamy weekend at Congressional Country Club. On Sunday, she quickly lost what was left of a formerly sizeable lead, then rallied to win by one when American player Lexi Thompson's putting faltered down the stretch.
Chun shot a 3-over 75 on each of the last two days of the tournament and finished at 5-under 283, enough to hold off Thompson (73) and Australia's Minjee Lee (70) by a stroke and earn a $1.35 million paycheck.
After leading by six strokes after 36 holes, Chun lost a three-shot advantage in the first three holes of the final round. Thompson was two strokes ahead of Chun after the front nine, but Thompson's putting problems were just beginning.
The 27-year-old Floridian botched a par putt from a couple of feet on No. 14, but a birdie on 15 restored her lead to two. Then she bogeyed the par-5 16th while Chun made a birdie, leaving the two players tied with two holes remaining.
Thompson three-putted for a bogey on 17. After an impressive approach from the rough on 18, her birdie putt wasn't hit firmly enough. Chun's approach on the par-4 hole bounced past the cup and just off the back of the green, but she putted to within about five feet and sank her par attempt for the win.
Chun, who won the 2015 U.S. Open and the 2016 Evian Championship, is the third player from South Korea to win at least three majors, trailing Inbee Park (seven) and Se Ri Pak (five).
Li's career renewed
MUNICH - Less than a year after he nearly retired, China's Li Haotong secured the third DP World Tour victory of his career but first since 2018, beating Belgium's Thomas Pieters with a 40-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole at the BMW International Open.
Li sank to the ground with exclamations of joy and relief after his winning shot at Golfclub München Eichenried. It was a huge turnaround from 2021, when he made the cut at only two events on the European-based circuit all year and considered leaving the sport behind.
"Ten months ago I just literally decided to quit golf. Somehow, where I am now, it's hard to describe," Li said. "I had no idea I could win this playoff. Luckily, things happened for me again."
Li had led since opening with a 10-under 62 to tie the course record, but he shot a 70 on Sunday for his worst round of the tournament. He was 3 under for the round through five holes but then made back-to-back bogeys, with the first on the par-5 sixth - where he had eagles the first three rounds.
A bogey on the 15th dropped him into a tie with Pieters and New Zealand's Ryan Fox for the lead. Li recovered with birdies on the 16th and 17th, but he missed a birdie putt on the 18th that would have clinched a win.
Li then won a playoff for the first time in his career as Pieters, who closed with a 67 to match Li at 22-under 266, failed to sink a 10-foot birdie putt to force another hole.
Fox (67) finished at 20 under for sole possession of third place.