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AFP
Los Angeles
Kevin Na made it closer than it had to be, but shook off a triple-bogey to beat Patrick Cantlay in a playoff on 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.
Too close
“Came down way too close,” Na said. “I had a comfortable lead, I felt really comfortable. I hit a bad tee shot, got unlucky and made a triple and all of a sudden I felt like I was the underdog.
“But I’m a fighter,” he added. “That putt on 17, I’m doing everything I can to make that putt.”
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.
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09/10/2019
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