Martin claims first PGA Tour title
Ben Martin made a 45-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole that sent him to his first PGA Tour victory Sunday in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.
Martin was one shot behind Kevin Streelman when his eagle put him back in the lead. He closed with a birdie for a 3-under-par 68 and a two-shot victory at the TPC Summerlin. The 27-year-old from South Carolina won in his 56th career start.
Moments after Martin made his eagle putt, Streelman missed a 5-foot birdie putt that would have tied him for the lead. Streelman still made five birdies over his last seven holes for a 65.
Martin finished at 20-under 264. The victory sends him back to the Masters. Martin played Augusta National in 2010 as the U.S. Amateur runner-up.
Russell Knox was third at 16 under after a 70.
World Match Play
Finland’s Mikko Ilonen beat top-seeded Henrik Stenson of Sweden 3 and 1 to win the World Match Play Championship in Ash, England.
Ilonen also won the Irish Open this year and has five European Tour titles.
In the morning semifinals, Ilonen beat Dutchman Joost Luiten 2 and 1, and Stenson topped South Africa’s George Coetzee 1 up.
Champions Tour
Jay Haas became the 18th player to win a Champions Tour event at 60 or older, closing with a 5-under 66 for a two-stroke victory in the Greater Hickory Kia Classic in Conover, North Carolina.
The 60-year-old former Wake Forest player has 17 victories on the 50-and-over tour after winning nine times on the PGA Tour. He also won the event in 2005 and 2009.
Haas extended his streak of under-par rounds to 23 and finished at 17-under 196 on Rock Barn Golf and Spa’s Champions Course. He ended a 27-month, 49-event winless streak since June 2012.
Players 60 and older have won 22 events on the tour.
Joe Durant and former Pullman resident Kirk Triplett tied for second.
Kyu Jung Baek won the LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship in her first tour start, beating fellow South Korean player In Gee Chun and American Brittany Lincicome with a 4-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff in Incheon, South Korea.
The 19-year-old Baek made the winning putt after Lincicome missed her birdie try from 4 1/2 feet. Chun hit her third shot into the greenside water hazard on the par-5 hole.