FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Adam Scott made a 7-foot birdie putt on the third hole of a playoff Sunday to end his first week as the world’s No. 1 player with a victory at Colonial.
Jason Dufner, who made a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 18 in regulation, slid a 40-footer past when he and Scott played the 18th hole for the second time during the playoff. Scott then made the 7-footer for his 11th PGA Tour victory.
The major champions parred No. 18 to start the playoff, then matched birdies at the 17th hole. Dufner, who won the PGA Championship last year, hit his approach pin high on 17 to 4½ feet, but 2013 Masters champ Scott drained a 14-foot birdie before Dufner putted.
Dufner and Scott both shot 4-under 66 to finish at 9 under, the highest winning score at Colonial since 1999.
Scott replaced the injured Tiger Woods at the top of the ranking last Monday and will stay No. 1. Scott had to be in the top 13 at Colonial after Henrik Stenson finished in a five-way tie for seventh place in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
The win at Hogan’s Alley, which comes with $1,152,000 and a plaid jacket, made Scott the first player to win all four PGA Tour events in Texas. He is the 15th to win both the Byron Nelson Championship (2008) and the Colonial in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Nicholas Thompson and Freddie Jacobson tied for third at 8 under. Thompson shot 66, a stroke better than Jacobson.
AIRBUS LPGA CLASSIC
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - Jessica Korda won the Airbus LPGA Classic for her second victory of the year, birdieing four of the last five holes to break out of a tight pack.
Korda made a breaking 15-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th for a 7-under 65 and a one-stroke victory over Anna Nordqvist. Also the winner in the season-opening event in the Bahamas, Korda played the back nine in 6-under 30 to finish at 20-under 268 on The Crossings course.
Nordqvist also birdied the 18th and finished with a 69.
Michelle Wie, 18-year-old Charley Hull and 44-year-old Catriona Matthew tied for third at 18 under. Wie and Hull shot 67, and Matthew had a 69.
Second-ranked Stacy Lewis had a 71 to tie for 10th at 15 under. She needed a solo third or higher to take the top spot in the world from Inbee Park.
BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) - Rory McIlroy won the BMW PGA Championship, overcoming a seven-stroke deficit with a 6-under 66 for his first victory of the year.
McIlroy had only one victory - in the Australian Open in December - in 18 months. He finished at 14-under 274 at Wentworth for a one-stroke victory over Ireland’s Shane Lowry (68). England’s Luke Donald (70) and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn (75) tied for third at 12 under. Bjorn took a five-stroke lead into the round.
McIlroy won four days after the 25-year old Northern Irishman confirmed the breakdown in his relationship with Danish tennis star Caroline Wozniacki.
SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) - Colin Montgomerie won the Senior PGA Championship, finishing with a 6-under 65 for a four-stroke victory over 64-year-old Tom Watson.
It marked Montgomerie’s first victory as senior, his first win in seven years and his first in an official event in the United States. He also claimed a senior major in his fifth attempt, something he didn’t accomplish in 71 majors in his regular tour days.
The 51-year-old Scot finished at 13-under 261 at Harbor Shores. The victory was his first since he took the 2007 European Open for his 31st European Tour title.
Watson also closed with a 65.
REX HOSPITAL OPEN
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Byron Smith won the Rex Hospital Open on Sunday for his first Web.com Tour title, closing with a 5-under 66 for a four-stroke victory
The 33-year-old Smith finished at 16-under 268 at TPC Wakefield Plantation and earned $112,500 to jump from 66th to 10th on the money list with $139,061.
Smith bogeyed the par-4 18th after birdieing Nos. 11, 12, 14 and 15 and parring Nos. 16-17. He shot a 63 on Saturday for a share of the third-round lead with Hunter Haas and Harold Varner III.
Varner finished with a 70 to tie for second with Australia’s Scott Gardner at 12 under. Gardner shot 69.
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