CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Jeongeun Lee6 is No. 1 at the U.S. Women's Open.
The 23-year-old South Korean shot a 1-under 70 on Sunday, enduring some shaky moments after opening up a three-stroke lead with three to play to hold off third-round co-leader Celine Boutier.
Lee6 was ahead by three after a birdie on the par-5 15th, but bogeyed the 16th and 18th to give Boutier a chance over the final two holes. But Boutier missed a long birdie attempt on the 17th and put her approach to the par-4 18th in a bunker. Her sand shot rolled off the green.
Lee6, playing two groups ahead of Boutier, was practicing putts when the Frenchwoman could not make the sand shot. Lee6 bent down in joy, with countrywoman and 2011 U.S. Women's Open winner So Yeon Ryu coming over to embrace the new major champion.
Lee6 finished at, naturally, 6-under 278 to claim the USGA's first $1 million women's winner check a few days after Tiger Woods' former swing coach, Hank Haney, made disparaging remarks about women's golf by predicting a "Korean" would win and "I'd go with Lee."
Lee6 has the number in her name because she was the sixth player with the name on the Korean LPGA. She has embraced the number, answering to it and writing a large "6'' on her balls. Her South Korean fan club is called "Lucky 6." Jeongeun Lee5 also plays the LPGA Tour.
Lee6 won a few days after Haney was suspended for his comments on his PGA Tour SiriusXM radio show when asked who'd win. "I'd go with Lee," Haney said. "If I didn't have to name a first name, I'd get a bunch of them right." Haney was suspended for his remarks.
Boutier made a double bogey on the final hole to fall into a tie for fifth at 3 under. She shot 75. Lexi Thompson, Ryu and Angel Yin tied for second, two shots behind. Thompson shot 73, Ryu 70 and Yin 68.
PGA TOUR
DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Patrick Cantlay got another handshake with Jack Nicklaus, this time as the Memorial winner.
Starting four shots behind, Cantlay closed with an 8-under 64 for a two-shot victory. It was the lowest final round by a winner in tournament history, and it moved the 27-year-old Californian into the top 10 in the world. He first met the tournament host in 2011 when he won the Jack Nicklaus Award as the top player in college at UCLA.
Martin Kaymer, trying to end five years without a victory, started with a two-shot lead and never recovered from back-to-back bogeys on the back nine. He shot 38 on the back nine and finished with a 72.
Adam Scott was the last player with a chance to catch Cantlay when he ran off three straight birdies to get within two shots, but he narrowly missed birdies on the last two holes and had to settle for a 68.
Cantlay finished at 19-under 269 and won for the second time in a PGA Tour career that is younger than it seems. A rising star coming out of UCLA — he was low amateur at the 2011 U.S. Open and opened with a 60 at the Travelers Championship a week later __ he missed two full years with a back injury that nearly cost him his career.
Scott finished at 17-under 271. Only six other players have had a lower 72-hole score at the Memorial since it began in 1976. One of them is Cantlay, who moves to No. 8 in the world with a U.S. Open at Pebble Beach looming.
Tiger Woods knew he had no chance to win the Memorial from 11 shots behind going into the final round, though he still put on a show and got what he needed out of his final event before the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He went out in 31 and was 7 under for his round through 12 holes until a sloppy bogey on the 14th and a closing bogey for a 67. He wound up in a tie for ninth at 9-under 279.
PGA TOUR CHAPIONS
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Kevin Sutherland birdied the second hole of a playoff with Scott Parel at Wakonda Club to win the Principal Charity Classic in the third-largest comeback in PGA Tour Champions history.
Two months after outlasting Parel on the seventh extra hole in Mississippi, Sutherland overcame an eight-shot deficit in the final round, making eight back-nine birdies in a course-record 10-under 62 to match Parel at 17-under 199.
Parel closed with a 70. They broke the tournament record of 15 under set by Scott McCarron three years ago.
Parel bogeyed the par-5 15th and missed a 10-foot birdie try on No. 18 in regulation. They each parred the first playoff hole.
The 54-year-old Sutherland won for the third time on the 50-and-over tour after winning once on the PGA Tour. He's the only player to shoot 59 on the tour, accomplishing the feat in the 2014 Dick's Sporting Goods Open.
EUROPEAN TOUR
ANTWERP, Belgium (AP) — Guido Migliozzi birdied the fifth hole for a two-shot swing that carried him to a four-shot victory over Darius van Driel in the final round Sunday to win the Belgian Knockout for his second European Tour victory of the season.
Migliozzi, who was in qualifying school in November, has two titles in 20 starts and is No. 21 in the Race to Dubai.
The Italian advanced in the nine-hole medal matches at Rinkven International Golf Club by beating Bernd Wiesberger in the quarterfinals and Ewen Ferguson in the semifinals. Van Driel had defeated Matthew Southgate and Gregory Havret.
Migliozzi never trailed in the final match, but built a two-shot lead with his birdie on No. 5 as van Driel made bogey, and then van Driel bogeyed the par-3 sixth to fall three shots behind with three to play.
Migliozzi joins Kurt Kitayama as two-time winners on the European Tour this year after coming through Q-school.
WEB.COM
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Denmark's Sebastian Cappelen rallied to win the REX Hospital Open for his second Web.com Tour title.
Four strokes back entering the round, Cappelen bogeyed the first two holes, then played the next 16 in 9 under with an eagle and seven birdies. He shot a 7-under 65 to finish at a tournament-record 21 under at The Country Club at Wakefield Plantation.
Cappelen earned $117,000 and jumped from 73rd to 10th in the season standings, with the final top 25 earning PGA Tour cards.
Grayson Murray (61) and Zack Sucher (67) tied for second, three strokes back.
OTHER TOURS
Yuta Ikeda closed with a 1-under 71 for a one-shot victory over Chan Kim in the Mizuno Open on the Japan Golf Tour. Ikeda, Kim, Sang-Hyun Park and Gunn Charoenkul each earned a spot in the British Open as the leading four players from the top 12 not already exempt. Kim tied for 11th in the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale. ... Erika Hara, the 20-year-old taught by Jumbo Ozaki, closed with a 6-under 66 and won a playoff against Pe Sung Woo to capture the Resort Trust Ladies on the Japan LPGA. ... Bo Ah Kim shot a 6-under 66 for a one-shot victory in the Lotte Cantata Ladies Open on the Korean LPGA Tour. ... Taiwan's Min Lee won the Symetra Tour's Valley Forge Invitational, beating American Esther Lee with a par on the first hole of a playoff. Lee closed with a 5-under 66 to match Esther Lee (65) at 15 under. ... Former Ryder Cup player Barry Lane shot 5-under 67 and won on the second hole of a playoff with Marc Farry in the Senior Italian Open on the Staysure Tour. ... France's Paul Barjon won the Mackenzie Tour's Bayview Place DCBank Open in Victoria, British Columbia. He shot 69-64-63-65 to beat Doc Redman by a stroke. ... Patrick Flavin won the PGA Tour Latinoamerica's Bupa Match Play, beating Rodrigo Lee 1 up.
