Golf roundup: Nate Lashley's win a story of tragedy and triumph

Nate Lashley hugs girlfriend Ashlie Reed on the 18th green at Detroit Golf Club after winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title.
Nate Lashley hugs girlfriend Ashlie Reed on the 18th green at Detroit Golf Club after winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title.

DETROIT - Nate Lashley walked toward the 18th green at Detroit Golf Club on the verge of his first PGA Tour victory, the center of the gallery's attention late Sunday afternoon.

His thoughts included three people who weren't there to see a moment of success years in the making.

"It was surreal," Lashley said Sunday after completing an unlikely wire-to-wire victory in the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic. "I didn't know what to think. There was a lot going through my mind."

Lashley closed with a 2-under-par 70 to finish at 25-under 263 and win by six shots, the margin he took into the day after leading by a stroke each of the first two rounds.

photo Nate Lashley holds up his trophy after winning the first Rocket Mortgage Classic on Sunday at Detroit Golf Club. Lashley, who made the field as an alternate after coming up short in Monday qualifying, capped a wire-to-wire victory for his first PGA Tour title.

His parents and girlfriend were killed in a plane crash 15 years ago. He dabbled in real estate after graduating from the University of Arizona, briefly gave up professional golf several years ago and eventually resumed playing in the PGA Tour's minor leagues.

"Without my parents, I wouldn't have started playing golf when I was little," said Lashley, who did so at age 8.

Monday qualifier Doc Redman shot a 67 to finish second. Wes Roach and Rory Sabbatini each closed with a 68 and were another stroke back in third, with six players sharing fifth.

Baylor School graduate Harris English closed with a 75 and tied for 55th at 8 under.

The 36-year-old Lashley, the 353rd-ranked player in the world, slipped into the PGA Tour's first event in Detroit as an alternate Wednesday.

"It's a great story - last man in the field," he said. "I was happy to get in the field. And to win it, it's a dream come true."

The native Nebraskan took full advantage of the opportunity, shooting a career-low 63 in the first round to take a lead he refused to lose. Lashley stayed atop the leaderboard with a 67 on Friday and gave himself a cushion with another 63 in the third round.

With Lashley on the brink of breaking through during his second PGA Tour season, his older sister, girlfriend, buddies and family friends flew to Detroit to join him. Brooke Lashley, who lives near her younger brother in Arizona, was in awe as spectators followed and cheered, standing along the ropes from tee to green.

"I'm sure a lot of these people didn't know him a couple days ago," she said while standing near the No. 8 green. "He's doing all he can to focus, but this is so incredible. It's foreign to him because he's never had this much attention. He's never played in front of a gallery like this with TV cameras all over the place."

His parents, Rod and Char Lashley, and girlfriend Leslie Hofmeister, all of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, were missing for three days before their bodies and the plane's wreckage were found near the 13,780-foot Gannett Peak in Wyoming after they watched him play in a tournament for the University of Arizona in 2004.

"It rocked our community," recalled Helen Reinhardt, a family friend.

Reinhardt and her husband, Jim, boarded a charter plane in Nebraska that stopped in Minnesota to pick up Lashley's girlfriend, Ashlie Reed, and arrived in the Motor City on Sunday.

"It's great to be here to watch his dream come true after watching him play in the Dakotas Tour and work his way up to here," said Jeff Peck, one of about a dozen of Lashley's friends who made it to the tournament.

When Lashley was flipping houses, he thought his playing career was over. He gave the game another shot, playing on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica circuit in 2015 and moved up to what is now called the Korn Ferry Tour two years later.

He had to end his rookie season on the PGA Tour after 17 events last year because of a knee injury, and his eighth-place finish at the Puerto Rico Open in February was his only top-10 finish on the top-tier circuit before Sunday.

Family and friends stood near the edge of the green as he closed out the round by making par. Lashley's girlfriend and sister, choking back tears, went onto the green to give him a hug.

"I'm just real emotional," he said later. "I'm just thankful I got in the tournament."

U.S. Senior Open: Steve Stricker strong to the finish

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Steve Stricker made his U.S. Senior Open debut one for the record book.

Stricker made a birdie on the opening hole of his final round and never was threatened on his way to a 1-under 69 for a six-shot victory. He finished at 19-under 261 on the Warren Golf Course at Notre Dame, breaking by three shots the U.S. Senior Open record set two years ago by Kenny Perry at Salem Country Club.

The 52-year-old Stricker, who still spends half of his time on the PGA Tour, won a PGA Tour Champions major for the second time this year. He also won by six shots at the Regions Tradition in May.

Jerry Kelly, who beat Stricker in a playoff last week in Wisconsin in the event Stricker hosts, shot a 69 and tied for second with 2018 U.S. Senior Open champion David Toms (68).

Stricker's bogey on No. 10 was his first since the sixth hole in the opening round, a streak of 57 holes without a bogey that shattered the tourney record of 43 set by D.A. Weibring in 2004 at Bellerive Country Club.

Bob Estes (70) was fourth and Kirk Triplett (69) took fifth. Five players shared sixth, including Scott McCarron, who had the lowest round of the day with a 64 and leads the season-long Charles Schwab Cup competition on the 50-and-older tour.

European Tour breakthrough comes by six shots

SOTOGRANDE, Spain - Christiaan Bezuidenhout won the Andalucía Masters for his first European Tour title.

Bezuidenhout closed with a par round of 71 to finish at 10-under 273 at Real Club Valderrama, six strokes ahead of five golfers who shared second. The 25-year-old South African had five birdies and five bogeys in the final round.

The runners-up were France's Mike Lorenzo-Vera (68) and a quartet of Spaniards: Adri Arnaus (69), Eduardo de La Riva (69), Alvaro Quiros (66) and Jon Rahm (72), who at No. 11 was the highest-ranked player in the field.

Tournament host Sergio Garcia, a three-time winner of the tournament, closed with a 70 to finish seventh.

New No. 1 in women's golf

ROGERS, Ark. - Sung Hyun Park two-putted for birdie on the par-5 18th to win the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, her second LPGA Tour victory of the season and seventh overall.

The 25-year-old is projected to move from second to first in the women's world ranking Monday. She will take the top spot from friend Jin Young Ko, a fellow South Korean who poured water over Park's head in celebration on the 18th green at Pinnacle Country Club.

Park closed with a 5-under 66 to finish the 54-hole event at 18-under 195. She tapped in a putt of not much more than a foot to beat Danielle Kang, Hyo Joo Kim and Inbee Park by a stroke. Each of the runners-up closed with a 65.

Kang rallied by playing the final five holes in 5 under, with an eagle on the par-5 14th and birdies on the last three.

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