PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) - John Senden ended more than seven years without a victory by making two late birdies, including a chip-in from 70 feet on the toughest hole at Innisbrook, for a one-shot victory on a wild and windy Sunday at the Valspar Championship.
Senden, two shots behind going into the final round, closed with a 1-under 70 for his first PGA Tour win since the 2006 John Deere Classic. The timing couldn’t have been better. The victory sends the 42-year-old Australian to the Masters next month. Senden finished at 7-under 277.
Kevin Na had a long birdie putt on the final hole that would have forced a playoff, but it never came close. He closed with a 72.
It took what Senden called a “magic shot” to shake loose from a traffic jam along the back nine of the Copperhead course. The tournament was up for grabs over the final two hours, with nine players separated by three shots at one point, and Senden part of a three-way tie for the lead heading into the treacherous, three-hole closing stretch at Innisbrook known as the “Snake Pit.”
He went birdie-birdie-par.
After driving into the trees and playing short of the green on the 16th, Senden lofted a pitch with perfect pace and watched it tumble into the cup for one of only two birdies in the final round. Equipped with a one-shot lead, he followed that with a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th.
Equally important was the par on the 18th, which was just as difficult as the birdies. He needed two putts up a ridge and breaking slightly to the right before it went swiftly down the slope and breaking to the left. The 40-foot putt settled inches from the cup.
TOSHIBA CLASSIC
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) - Fred Couples won the Toshiba Classic for his 10th Champions Tour title, birdieing the final two holes for a one-stroke victory.
The 54-year-old Couples shot a 5-under 66 to finish at 15-under 198 at Newport Beach Country Club. Also the 2010 winner, he made a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th and holed another 4-footer on the par-5 18th.
Colin Montgomerie, Bernhard Langer and Steve Pate tied for second. Langer had a chance to force a playoff, but missed a 20-foot birdie try on 18 and settled for a 70.
Montgomerie had a 62, the best round of the week, and Pate shot a 66.
BRAZIL CHAMPIONS
SAO PAULO (AP) - Jon Curran completed a wire-to-wire victory in the Web.com Tour’s Brazil Champions, closing with a 2-under 69 to beat Alex Cejka by four strokes.
Curran finished at 25-under 259 at Sao Paulo Golf Club and earned $144,000 for his first Web.com Tour title in only his fourth start. The 27-year-old former Vanderbilt player opened with a course-record 61 and added rounds of 64 and 65.
Cejka, the winner of the season-opening Colombia Championship last month, also shot a 69. He earned $86,400 to push his total to $221,400, more than enough to wrap a spot next season on the PGA Tour.
TROPHY HASSAN II
AGADIR, Morocco (AP) - Spain’s Alejandro Canizares won the Trophy Hassan II by five strokes, shooting a 2-under 70 to complete a wire-to-wire victory at Palais Royal.
Canizares finished at 19-under 269 for his second European Tour victory.
England’s Andy Sullivan was second after a 63.
LALLA MERYEM CUP
AGADIR, Morocco (AP) - English teenager Charley Hull won the Ladies European Tour’s Lalla Meryem Cup for her first professional victory, beating France’s Gwladys Nocera with a birdie on the first extra hole.
The 17-year-old Hull closed with a 9-under 62 at l’Ocean to match Nocera at 15-under 269. Nocera had a three-putt bogey on the final hole of regulation for a 67.
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