Na overcomes Cantlay to win Las Vegas title; Knight prevails at Texas event

Kevin Na made it closer than it had to be, but shook off a triple-bogey to beat Patrick Cantlay in a playoff Sunday to win the US PGA Tour Shriners Hospitals for Children Open for the second time.

Korean-born American Na, who won his first tour title on the same TPC Summerlin course in Las Vegas in 2011, captured his fourth with a gritty finish as the shadows were starting to fall.

His one-under par 70 put him level on 23-under 261 with Cantlay, who closed with a 68, through 72 holes.

After both birdied the first playoff hole, Na sealed it with a par at the second extra hole, where Cantlay left his birdie putt nearly six feet short before Na hit his four feet past.

Cantlay ended up with a three-putt bogey while Na rolled in his par attempt for an emotional win.

“I’ve lost three playoffs,” Na said. “This is my first playoff win. I kept telling myself ‘This is a playoff that I’m going to win.” Na, who took a two-shot lead into the final round after three rounds of spectacular putting, looked headed for a much easier victory after birdies at the sixth and seventh -- where he rolled in a 27-footer.

He bounced back from a bogey at the eighth with a birdie at the ninth, where he got up and down from a greenside bunker.

But a poor tee shot at the 10th led to a triple-bogey seven. He remained one shot in front of Cantlay only because Cantlay also bogeyed 10.

Both players birdied the 12th, 13th and 15th before Cantlay took a one-shot lead with a birdie at 16, where Na was in the water on the way to a bogey.

It was Cantlay’s turn to find the water at 17, where Na drained a 23-foot par saving putt that sent them to the 72nd hole tied on 23-under.

Cantlay, who won the Las Vegas title in 2017 and finished runner-up last year, said his six-footer for par at the second playoff hole “broke a little more than I thought.

American Pat Perez finished alone in third on 263 after a three-under 68. Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau fired a 63 to head a group on 264 that also included Canadian Adam Hadwin and American Brian Stuard.

Meanwhile, Texan Cheyenne Knight captured her first US LPGA Tour title in her native Lone Star State on Sunday, firing a 66 for a two-shot win in the Volunteers of America Classic.

The 22-year-old rookie rolled in three birdies on the back nine at the Old American Golf Club course to finish with a 18-under 266 total.

Brittany Altomare and Jaye Marie Green tied for second at 16-under, giving the US the top three spots in the event at The Colony, Texas.

Knight came into the tournament needing a top five finish to crack the top 100 on the LPGA money list and ended up taking home her biggest career prize, $195,000.

She is also the fourth American winner in 2019, joining Cydney Clanton, Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson.

Until Sunday’s victory, there wasn’t much for Knight to write home about in her rookie season. She missed the cut in half of her 18 starts on the Tour and was looking a relegation to the qualifying series.

That all changed this week as she earned a two-year exemption and will play in the CME Globe Tour Championship in November.

She grew up about an hour’s drive away in Aledo, Texas. She wanted to dedicate her first victory to her late brother, Brandon, who died in a car accident when Cheyenne was just 12.

“I think I had a second caddie. I know he’s watching in heaven, and he’s so proud of me,” a teary-eyed Knight said.

Agence France-Presse