The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Chappell gets first PGA Tour victory
Winner’s 68 holds off final-round charge by Koepka (65).
Kevin Chappell made an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole to win the Valero Texas Open by one stroke on Sunday.
Chappell had a 4-underpar 68 in the final round to finish at 12-under for the tournament, edging Brooks Koepka at TPC San Antonio to earn his first PGA Tour victory in his 180th career start.
Koepka, a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team last year, was looking for his second PGA Tour win. He had the best round of the day at 7-under 65.
Before Chappell came down the 18th hole, Koepka had birdied the hole with a 3-foot putt to tie him.
Second-round co-leader Tony Finau got in a position to tie Koepka when he birdied four of five holes on the back nine.
But his par-bogey finish left him settling for a finalround 69 and a third-place tie with Kevin Tway (69) at 9-under. Australian Aaron Baddeley shot 68 to finish fourth at 8-under.
Brian Gay (70), Sung Kang (68), Ryan Palmer (71) and Cameron Smith (71) were tied for sixth at 7-under, five shots behind Chappell.
Koepka, trailing Chappell by a shot coming up the 18th, took a 3-iron out of his bag and considered taking a crack at reaching the 606-yard par-5 in two. But he had 293 yards left with a slight uphill shot into the wind with a creek fronting the green.
He put the club back in his bag and laid up to create a 90-wedge approach. He stuck that to about three feet and made the birdie to go into the clubhouse tied with Chappell.
Chappell had almost the same distance for his approach on 18, and he landed it past the hole to set up the winning putt.
Champions Tour: Carlos Franco and Vijay Singh teamed to shoot a course-record 12-under par to rally from seven shots behind and win the PGA Tour Champions’ Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Mo.
Franco and Singh finished at 15 under overall over the rain-shortened 36-hole tournament at the par-3 Top of the Rock course, holding off a trio of teams that finished a stroke back.
The win is the first on the PGA Tour Champions for Singh, and it’s the second for Franco.
European Tour: Austrian Bernd Wiesberger beat England’s Tommy Fleetwood in a playoff to win the Shenzhen International at Shenzhen, China.
Wiesberger went into the final round with a three-shot lead and eight shots ahead of Fleetwood, but the Englishman fired a 63 to finish tied at 16 under.