PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic (AP) — Hudson Swafford stopped his slide with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole, and he finished with an 8-foot par putt to hold on for a one-shot victory Sunday in the Corales Puntacana Club and Resort Championship.
Swafford closed with a 3-under 69, doing most of his work on the front nine with a 31 that took him from a two-shot deficit to a three-shot lead.
He led by four shots when he made double bogey from left of the 13th green and and bogey from the fairway on the 15th, falling into a share of the lead with Mackenzie Hughes and Tyler McCumber.
Swafford hit 6-iron to a front pin on the 210-yard 17th hole to 10 feet and made his first birdie since the eighth hole. He closed with an 8-foot par to avoid a playoff with McCumber, who had made a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 66.
Hughes bogeyed the 18th for a 70 to finish third.
Swafford’s second PGA Tour victory — the other was the Desert Classic in 2017 — gets him into the Masters next April. He has not played in a major in more than three years.
EUROPEAN TOUR
BALLYMENA, Northern Ireland (AP) — John Catlin birdied three of his last four holes to close with a 6-under 64 and rally for a two-shot victory in the Irish Open, his second title in three weeks on the European Tour.
Catlin is the first American to win the Irish Open since Hubert Green in 1977.
Aaron Rai never got anything going in favorable conditions at Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort. A birdie on the 17th hole pulled him within one shot of Catlin, and a birdie on the par-5 closing hole would have forced a playoff. Instead, Rai made bogey and closed with a 70.
Catlin finished on 10-under 270. He joins Sam Horsfield and Rasmus Hojgaard as two-time winners on the European Tour this season. Catlin, who played college golf at New Mexico, moves to No. 14 in the Race to Dubai. He will move into the top 100 in the world ranking for the first time in his career.
KORN FERRY TOUR
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Jared Wolfe closed with a 1-over 71 and held on for a one-shot victory over Taylor Pendrith in the Wichita Open, his second victory this year on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Wolfe also won in the Bahamas the second week of the pandemic-interrupted season. His victory Sunday moves him to No. 4 in the Korn Ferry points list, although no PGA Tour cards will be awarded until after next season.
Wolfe seized control with an eagle on the par-5 14th hole, only to drop shots on each of the next two holes. That left him no room for mistakes, and he finished with two pars.
Pendrith, who tied for 23rd in the U.S. Open last week at Winged Foot, closed with a 69. Dawson Armstrong (65) and Bad Hopfinger (68) tied for third.
Wolfe won for the fifth time in his career, two on the Korn Ferry and three on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica.
SYMETRA TOUR
LONGWOOD, Fla. (AP) — Laura Wearn holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 2-under 69 to force a playoff, and she won with a par on the first extra hole to beat Haylee Harford in the IOA Golf Classic.
Wearn won for the third time on the Symetra Tour.
Harford closed with a 70 for her best finish on the Symetra Tour.
Samantha Wagner shot 68 and was tied for the lead until a bogey on the par-3 closing hole. She tied for third with Casey Danielson, who closed with a bogey-free 68.
