SHANGHAI (AP) - Xander Schauffele gave the Americans a sweep of the World Golf Championships and quickly put a winless sophomore season behind him.
Schauffele made birdie on his final three holes Sunday, the last one a two-putt birdie from about 30 feet on the par-5 18th hole to beat Tony Finau in a sudden-death playoff and win the HSBC Champions.
Schauffele began the tournament by celebrating his 25th birthday. He ended it with one clutch shot after another in the closing stretch at Sheshan International for a 4-under 68, the lowest score of the final round, and his first victory in 13 months.
Schauffele won twice in his first year on the PGA Tour to win rookie of the year. Last season featured high finishes, but only one good chance at winning when he was a runner-up in the British Open at Carnoustie. Now he has three victories, the last two at the Tour Championship to end the 2017 season and now a World Golf Championship.
Finau, who started the final round with a three-shot lead in his bid for a second PGA Tour-sanctioned victory, was ahead by one shot until Schauffele made an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th, only the fourth player to make birdie on that hole Sunday.
Defending champion Justin Rose missed a 10-foot birdie chance on the 17th and went to the final hole two shots behind. Trying to make eagle, he went from the bunker to the rough to over the green and into the water, making a bogey for a 72 to finish four shots behind. That meant Brooks Koepka, who closed with a 69 and tied for 16th, stayed at No. 1 in the world for at least another week.
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PGA TOUR
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Cameron Champ birdied five of the last six holes to win the Sanderson Farms Championship, recovering for his first PGA Tour victory after giving up a four-shot lead.
The 23-year-old Champ won in his ninth career tour start, closing with a 4-under 68 for a four-stroke victory. He finished at 21-under 267 in the wire-to-wire victory at the Country Club of Jackson.
Champ began the day four shots ahead, but played the front nine in 1 over to fall into a tie. Corey Conners pulled even on No. 9 with a 13-foot birdie putt, but Champ pulled away on the back nine with four straight birdies on Nos. 13-16. Conners had a 68 to finish second.
Carlos Ortiz (64) and Sam Burns (68) were six shots back.
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PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) - Scott Parel won the Invesco QQQ Championship, taking the PGA Tour Champions playoff event for his second victory in two months.
Parel shot a 4-under 68, parring the final five holes at Sherwood Country Club to hold off Paul Goydos by a stroke. The 53-year-old Parel jumped from sixth to second in the season standings, with the top 36 qualifying for the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in two weeks at Phoenix Country Club. He won the Boeing Classic in late August for his first tour victory.
Parel finished at 11-under 205.
Goydos parred the final four holes in a 67.
Kenny Perry shot 67 to tie for third with David McKenzie (70) and Stephen Ames (71) at 8 under. Season points leader Bernhard Langer had a 70 to get to 7 under. Miguel Angel Jimenez, the second-round leader, shot a 73 to also finish at 7 under.
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LPGA TOUR
TAOYUAN, Taiwan (AP) - Nelly Korda won the Taiwan Championship for her first LPGA Tour victory, closing with a 4-under 68 to beat Minjee Lee by two strokes.
The 20-year-old Korda, the younger sister of five-time tour winner Jessica Korda and daughter of tennis major champion Petr Korda, finished at 13-under 275 at Ta Shee Golf and Country Club.
The Kordas are the third set of sisters to win on the LPGA Tour, joining Annika and Charlotta Sorenstam and Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn.
Lee shot a 66. Ryann O’Toole was third at 10 under after a 67.
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OTHER TOURS
MEN
Australian Zach Murray won the PGA Tour Australasia’s Nexus Risk Services WA Open. The 21-year-old Murray led wire-to-wire, shooting 64, 70, 69, 69 to finish at 16-under 272. Fellow amateur David Micheluzzi was two strokes back. Murray is the third amateur in seven years to win the WA Open, following Oliver Goss (2012) and Curtis Luck (2016). … Yuta Kinoshita won the Mynavi ABC Championship for his first Japan Golf Tour title. He beat fellow Japanese player Masahiro Kawamura with a 12-foot eagle putt on the first hole of a playoff. Kinoshita closed with a 3-under 69 to match Kawamura (67) at 15 under. … Khalin Joshi won his home Panasonic Open India for his first Asian Tour title, birdieing four of the final five holes for a 4-under 68 and a one-stroke victory. Bangladesh’s Siddikur Rahman was second. … Louis de Jager closed with a 5-under 65 for a one-stroke victory in the Sunshine Tour’s Sibaya Challenge. … Bob Sowards won the Senior PGA Professional Championship in Port St. Lucie, Florida. He holed out for eagle from a greenside bunker on the par-5 16th and shot an even-par 72 to finish at 13 under. Omar Uresti and Walter Chapman tied for second, two strokes back. The low 35 scorers earned spot in the Senior PGA Championship in May at Oak Hill.
WOMEN
Park Gyeol won the Korean LPGA’s SK Networks-Seoul Economic Ladies Classic. She closed with a 5-under 6 for a one-stroke victory. … Shoko Sasaki shot a 4-under 68 for a two-shot victory in the Japan LPGA’s Mitsubishi Electric Ladies.
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