MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Brooks Koepka knows everyone wanted to see a tight final-round duel with Rory McIlroy.

“That would have been incredible for the fans, for everybody that showed up and I’m sure that’s what everybody wanted,” Koepka said.

Too bad Koepka drained all the drama Sunday on the way to his first World Golf Championships title.

Koepka had three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the front nine and cruised to a three-stroke victory in the FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

Canadian Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., closed at 3 under par to finish tied for 27th.

Playing with McIlroy in their first final-group pairing, the top-ranked Koepka closed with a bogey-free 5-under 65 at TPC Southwind for his seventh PGA Tour title. He finished at 16-under 264.

McIlroy followed his third-round 62 with a 71 to drop into a tie for fourth at 11 under. McIlroy declined to talk to reporters after the round.

“Rory didn’t play the way he wanted to today, but still it’s so much fun to watch him play,” Koepka said. “You kind of get glued watching him hit balls. I mean, it’s mesmerizing watching him hit. You know it’s always nice to squeak out a victory over probably the best player right now.”

Webb Simpson had a 64 to finish second. Marc Leishman (67) was third, four strokes back. Tommy Fleetwood (66) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (69) joined McIlroy at 11 under.

Koepka wrapped up the regular-season points title a week early and claimed a $2 million bonus from the Wyndham Rewards program. He is assured to going into the FedEx Cup playoffs as the No. 1 seed.

Koepka became the sixth player to win a major championship and a World Golf Championship in the same year. He won the PGA Championship for the second straight year in May.

After tapping in for par on No. 18, Koepka celebrated with a little fist pump before hugging McIlroy.

Koepka had been so close in recent weeks, coming in second at the U.S. Open in June and tying for fourth last week at the British Open. He also had a pair of top-10 finishes in this event when it was held at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, and he also won for the first time at the TPC Southwind, where he tied for third in 2015 and tied for second in 2016 when this course hosted the former St. Jude Classic.

Koepka says he feels he knows this course better than any other on tour, and finally winning here and a WGC title, too, is special.

“It’s a thinker’s golf course,” Koepka said. “I probably don’t get enough thought process going through my mind sometimes, just get up and hit it. It gets very routine. A lot of times it’s drivers, but out here you’ve really got to position yourself off the tee depending on where the pin is.”

Now Koepka has come from behind in three of his seven victories, though this time teeing off only a stroke off the lead. When they teed off, Koepka was among 10 players within four strokes of leader McIlroy.

After a couple of pars, Koepka took control.

Koepka rolled in a 9-footer for birdie and a share of the lead on the par-5 third he bogeyed in each of the first two rounds for a nice confidence boost. McIlroy missed his own 4-foot birdie chance a couple inches left after chipping from behind a green-side bunker.

Then Koepka hit his second shot on the par-4 fifth from 185 yards to 5 feet for his second birdie and the outright lead, while McIlroy’s second was on the left fringe with his attempt 5 feet short on yet another par. Koepka birdied his second straight on the par-4 sixth, rolling in a 20-footer for a two-stroke lead .

Koepka padded that lead after the turn, hitting his second from 143 to 8 feet on the par-4 10th. Koepka rolled in the birdie putt to go to 15 under with a three-stroke lead making the only question left whether anyone could get close.

He created the last of the drama by scrambling for par on the next two holes. He put his second into the intermediate rough on the edge of the green on No. 15, forcing him to hole a 9-footer, with a poor chip on the par-5 16th leading to another par. But he clinched the win with a 12-footer on No. 17.

McIlroy had won three of his previous four when shooting at least a 62 in an event. The Northern Irishman who missed the cut at the British Open by a stroke last week just couldn’t keep up with Koepka.

Simpson eagled No. 3 and added a birdie on No. 6. Then he added four birdies on the back nine and tied the best round of the day with his best round since winning the 2018 Players Championship.

“Knowing that Brooks Koepka and Rory are out in front, I knew it needed to be a low round,” Simpson said. “I didn’t have a number in mind. … Very happy with how the day went.

Divots: Koepka, who won the CJ Cup in South Korea last October, also is the first on tour with three wins this season. … Justin Thomas, who won this event in Ohio last year, tied for 12th. Johnson, who won the FedEx St. Jude Classic here last year, tied for 20th.

RENO, Nev. – Collin Morikawa birdied his last three holes Sunday to win the Barracuda Championship, making him the second player this summer to go from college to a PGA Tour winner.

Morikawa, who graduated from Cal last month, closed with seven birdies against no bogeys in the modified Stableford scoring system, giving him 14 points in the final round at Montreaux Golf and Club.

He finished with 47 points for a three-point victory over Troy Merritt, who had the lead on the back nine until the 22-year-old Morikawa made his final charge. Merritt had a chance to win on the par-5 18th with an eagle, but his chip raced 12 feet by the hole and he missed the birdie putt. He finished with seven points in the round.

Canadian Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., finished with a share of 7th place at 37 over par.

Robert Streb, tied for the lead after a birdie on No. 10, finished with eight pars and tied for third with John Chin.

Morikawa joins Matthew Wolff of Oklahoma State as players who have gone straight from college to their first PGA Tour victory. Wolff won the 3M Open in Minnesota three weeks ago, making an eagle putt on the final hole to beat Morikawa.

“It was something really special to finally get the win,” Morikawa said.

He was doing everything right leading up to his big moment at Montreaux. He has made the cut in all six of his starts since his May 18 graduation, including his tie for 35th in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. After his runner-up to Wolff in Minnesota, he tied for fourth in the John Deere Classic and then won the Barracuda Championship.

His 14 points translate to a 65, meaning Morikawa has an average final round of 66.83, his worst Sunday score a 69 in the U.S. Open.

While he was already assured of a PGA Tour card for next year with his good results, the victory gives him membership immediately, with his points retroactive. Morikawa is at No. 46 in the FedEx Cup, and he cracked the top 100 in the world ranking.

He earned $630,000, giving him $1,672,904 since graduating college just over two months ago.

The victory does not get him into the Masters, however, because the Barracuda Championship was held opposite a World Golf Championships event.

Morikawa began his move after having to settle for par – no points – on the par-5 13th, leaving him three points behind Merritt who was in the fairway behind him. Morikawa holed an 8-foot birdie putt on the 14th, and his best shot was on the par-3 16th, when he went at a back pin with a high cut into the breeze to 10 feet on the fringe and made the birdie putt.

His biggest shot was on the next hole when he holed a 30-foot birdie putt with enough pace that it might have gone some 6 feet by the hole. That set him up for the closing hole, where his 4-iron came up short of the green with a front pin, and he used putter to roll it to 2 feet for a tap-in birdie.

“It felt good to make that putt, but obviously I had one more hole to play,” Morikawa said. “There was a lot of points on the board left, and I knew I had business to do on 18. And I hit three good shots and was able to tap in for birdie.”

Merritt trailed for the first time on the back nine when Morikawa made his birdie on the 16th. He answered with a 30-foot birdie from the fringe on the 16th, and he saved par with a 5-foot putt on the 17th to stay one point behind.

Morikawa’s final birdie meant Merritt had to make eagle (worth 5 points) to win. A birdie is worth two points and would not be enough. His approach came up short, and his chip stayed left of the hole.

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France – Cresting a wave of South Koreans atop the Evian Championship leaderboard Saturday, Hyo Joo Kim fired a third-round 65 to move one shot clear on 15-under 198.

Kim’s latest impressive round of majors golf did not quite match her very first – a record 61 here as a teenager five years ago when she took the title in her elite debut.

Top-ranked Sung Hyun Park closed the gap in second by making a birdie on the par-5 18th for a 5-under 66 on the hillside course overlooking Lake Geneva.

Four shots back in a tie for third place were seven-time major winner Inbee Park (69) and Jin Young Ko (66), the world No. 2 who won the season’s first major, the ANA Inspiration, in April.

“I really think this golf course suits Korean players because all the golf courses in Korea are built in the mountain,” Inbee Park said. “We are really used to the undulations and the lies that we get.”

Play started early in cooler conditions and finished at 2:15 p.m. local time (1215 GMT) just as a forecast stormy downpour dumped rain on Evian Resort Golf Club.

Sunday’s forecast calls for persistent rain and a temperature drop of about 16 Celsius (30 degrees F) from the opening round heatwave on Thursday.

Evian has not escaped some fall-like weather despite switching back to July. The $4.1 million tournament was played in September since being elevated to majors status for the 2013 edition.

“I think I’m familiar with the course conditions when it has rained,” Sung Hyun Park said through a translator. She planned to stay dry later Saturday and “just lie on my bed and read comics.”

Four South Koreans were tied for the lead at 10 under after the leading group played the 8th, where Lee’s 3-foot par putt roll around the lip and came back toward her.

After Sung Hyun Park moved clear at 12 under by holing her bunker shot for eagle at the par-5 ninth, Kim made a birdie to close within one shot and then picked up shots at Nos. 13 and 14 to lead outright.

Park drew level with a birdie at the par-5 15th, then fell back when only Kim made a four-footer for birdie that both had at the par-3 16th.

Four players are at 8 under included former top-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn, whose 64 tied the lowest round of the week.

Also in that group were the best-placed Americans, Megan Khang (67) and tour rookie Jennifer Kupcho.

Kupcho, the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur winner in April, made eagle-3 at the 7th reaching the turn in 32 strokes, but needed a birdie on No. 18 to card 69.

Brooke Henderson (68) of Smiths Falls, Ont., was tied for 27th at 3 under. Hamilton’s Alena Sharp (79) is tied for 69th at 7 over.

The Jutanugarn sisters from Thailand both made big moves up the leaderboard.

Ariya Jutanugarn cited the softer greens, after heavy overnight rain, for helping her on a course where her best finish is tied for ninth.

“I feel like it never fits my game because it is so narrow, and so tight,” said Jutanugarn, who has been world No. 1 in parts of each season starting in 2017.

Moriya Jutanugarn’s 66 lifted her to 7 under, one behind her younger sister.

Evian begins back-to-back Sundays deciding major titles. The British Women’s Open starts Thursday at Woburn, England.

Full scoring can be found here.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Nobody likes missing the cut by a stroke, and doing it in a major championship at home hurts even more.

Rory McIlroy is showing he can bounce back quickly.

McIlroy shot an 8-under 62 on Saturday in the FedEx St. Jude Invitational to take a one-stroke lead over Brooks Koepka at the World Golf Championships event.

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., is at 2 under, in a tie for 30th.

McIlroy, who missed the cut by a stroke last week in the British Open on his home turf in Northern Ireland, had a nine-birdie, one-bogey round to move from a tie for 17th to the top of the leaderboard at TPC Southwind. The man who shattered the screen of a woman’s cellphone with his opening tee shot at Royal Portrush finished the round Saturday with three straight birdies.

“I guess the pressure’s off a little bit,” McIlroy said.

“You’ve had a bad week and you go to the next week and you say, ‘OK I didn’t do this well, I didn’t do this well.’ So you’re sort of trying to focus on that rather than winning the tournament. So for me, this week I wanted to focus on neutralizing my ball flight and trying to dial in my distances. All of a sudden those two little focus points have made me play some good golf again.”

McIlroy capped his birdie spurt by rolling in a 27-footer on the par-4 18th for the lead to himself after putting his tee shot into a fairway bunker. He had a 12-under 198 total.

Two groups behind McIlroy, Koepka (64) had his chances. The world’s top-ranked player finished with three straight pars. Now Koepka and McIlroy, who played the first two rounds together, will play together Sunday for the first time in a final round.

Second-round leader Matthew Fitzpatrick (69) was third, two strokes back. Marc Leishman (63), Alex Noren (66) and Jon Rahm (68) were three shots behind.

“It is exciting,” McIlroy said. “He’s the No. 1 player in the world, four majors in the last three years. He’s the man right now. I got to play with him the last couple days and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed seeing what he can do.”

Koepka says Sunday should be fun duking it out with McIlroy with so much on the line.

“That’s who you want to go up against, especially if he’s going to be playing this good,” Koepka said.

On Saturday, the field featuring 46 of the world’s top 50 attacked a course in almost perfect condition for scoring. Birdies fell early and often.

McIlroy finished a stroke off the 61 he shot in the final round of his Canadian Open victory in June. McIlroy, who also won the Players Championship in March, spent some extra time on the driving range to adjust his wedges. He showed just how dialed in he was by hitting 14 of 18 greens in regulation and needing only 23 putts.

He birdied two of his first three holes, with his longest putt 6 feet on No. 1. He finished his front nine with a 30 after three straight birdies, and a 17-footer on the par-4 seventh was his longest of the trio.

McIlroy’s lone misstep came on No. 12 when he hit his tee shot into the water all along the par 4 and then put his third into a greenside bunker. He chipped out to 6 feet to salvage bogey. He birdied four of his final five, hitting his tee shot 190 yards to 5 feet on the par-3 14th, and left himself a 6-footer for birdie on the par-5 16th.

He rolled in a 16-footer on 17, setting up for his longest birdie putt on the final hole.

“My goal at the start of the day was to try to get to double digits under par going into (Sunday), and I bettered that by two and that’s because of those little bonus putts on 17 and 18,” McIlroy said.

Koepka had been just off when putting from 15 feet out or more dating to the British Open, here he tied for fourth. After four birdies on the front nine Saturday, he rolled in a 30-footer on the par-3 11th to go to 10 under and the lead to himself. He hit his tee shot into a fairway bunker on No. 13 and three-putted for bogey.

He came right back with back-to-back birdies to share the lead briefly with Fitzpatrick. But he missed a prime scoring chance on No. 16 and scrambled to save par after just missing the water off the 18th green.

Fitzpatrick was the first to 12 under with a birdie on No. 11. But he put the ball in the water on No. 12 on his way to double bogey and added two bogeys. He recovered with birdies on two of his final three holes in the final group with Patrick Cantlay.

“No one really wanted to watch me and Patrick because they were more about watching Rory and Brooks,” Fitzpatrick said. “So that’s completely understandable. I’d be the same.”

Divots: McIlroy had his fifth round of 62 or better on tour and third in his last 63 rounds. McIlroy has won three of his last four tournaments when shooting 62 or better in a round. This is the 12th time McIlroy has had at least a share of a 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour, and he’s won seven times previously. … Koepka hit 17 of 18 greens with his only miss at the 18th.

Full scoring can be found here.

RENO, Nev. – Tom Hoge topped the Barracuda Championship leaderboard with 21 points Friday when second-round play at Montreaux Golf and Country Club was suspended for the day after a long delay because of lightning and heavy rain.

Roger Sloan is the top Canadian with 12 points, good for a tie for 29th. David Hearn is tied for 38th with 10 points, while Adam Svensson is in a tie for 59th.

Hoge scored eight points in the second round, finishing with five birdies and two bogeys in the modified Stableford event that awards eight points for albatross, five for eagle, two for birdie and zero for par, and subtracts a point for bogey and three for double bogey or worse.

“I just try to get in the fairway,” Hoge said. “And there’s a lot of opportunities from there with short irons, you can get to all the par 5s, some drivable par 4s. It’s a fun golf course to play and fun format. I enjoy the week.”

Beau Hossler, John Chin and Collin Morikawa were a point back.

Play was stopped just before 2 p.m. and called off for the day a little after 5 p.m. Nearly an inch of rain fell on the course in the Sierra Nevada foothills. None of the afternoon starters were able to finish, with two groups unable to start.

Hossler had a 12-point round, Chin scored 11 points, and Morikawa seven.

“There’s plenty of birdies to be had out there,” Hossler said. “The greens are a little bit tricky, but they’re sectioned off where if you get in the appropriate section you usually have a pretty good look. My driver’s been pretty squirrelly, but I actually felt like I found something the last four or five holes, which is hopefully big for me on the weekend.”

David Lingmerth, the first-round leader after an 18-point round Thursday, bogeyed his opening hole and was at 17 points after four holes when play was suspended. Play also was delayed Thursday because of an afternoon thunderstorm.

Full scoring can be found here.

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France – Taking advantage of an earlier start time to get ahead of bad weather, Mi Hyang Lee surged to a 4-under 67 on Friday to take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the Evian Championship.

The 37th-ranked Lee was at even through 15 holes on the day before a birdie-birdie-eagle finish in the best of still conditions. Her clubhouse target of 10-under 132 only got tougher as threatened lightning strikes forced a delay and the heat was swept away by gusting winds.

Top-ranked Sung Hyun Park, also playing early, plus seven-time major winner Inbee Park and Hyo Joo Kim, thriving after a suspension that lasted 1 hour, 5 minutes, were one shot back.

Lee cited good fortune in leading the newest women’s major at the midway point.

“I think I missed a lot of the green today, but was trying to think simple,” said Lee, a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour. “I had a little luck also.”

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp was at 1 under for the tournament after a 1-under 70 on Friday. Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., was even following a 70 in the second round.

Sung Hyun Park shot a bogey-free 5-under 66 but wasted a chance to lead. She three-putted the 18th for the second straight day.

“I knew I had to score low for the first and second rounds, so I was a little aggressive,” Park said through a translator, noting a forecast calling for rain through the weekend.

The late-afternoon delay disrupted first-round leader Paula Creamer, who was 9 under after making birdie on the 12th. Shortly thereafter, storm clouds moved on Evian Resort Golf Club.

Creamer returned on the 13th green and missed a 6-foot putt for her first bogey of the tournament. She dropped shots on Nos. 14 and 15 as the wind whipped up, then made a triple-bogey 6 after finding water at the par-3 16th.

Another bogey at No. 17 left Creamer seven shots worse off since the stoppage – giving back all she gained in a 64 during Thursday’s heat wave. Her 76 left her tied for 25th at 2 under.

“Unfortunately, this time it got me,” the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open champion said of the weather delay. “I was playing great, really consistent.”

Playing partners Inbee Park and Kim coped better, and Park credited the steep drop in temperature with helping her make three late birdies in a round of 68.

“Maybe I needed a break because of the heat,” she said, though the changing wind direction made judging distances tough. “We were definitely on the wrong side of the draw.”

Former No. 1 Shanshan Feng (66) was alone in fifth at 7 under. Feng, who won her only major at the 2012 LPGA Championship, missed the cut at the three previous majors this season.

“Finally get to see me on the weekend at a major,” Feng said.

A group at 6 under included Caroline Hedwall of Sweden, who also shot 64, and Americans Jennifer Kupcho and Amy Olson. Kupcho won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April and has since turned professional.

Last year at Evian, Olson led for most of the weekend and was still one shot clear on the 18th tee, but she closed with a double bogey and finished one shot behind Angela Stanford. It was her career-best result in a major.

“A little bit of mixed feelings,” Olson said about being back at Evian. “Obviously I played well last year. I’m not going to say it still doesn’t hurt.”

Stanford relinquished her title after a 74 left her at 8-over 150, six strokes outside the cut line.

The highest-ranked American, No. 3 Lexi Thompson, shot 72 to finish at 7 over and was unhappy with the condition of the course and the way she felt good tee shots were punished.

“I’m actually very thankful that I don’t have to put myself thru that for another two days,” Thompson wrote on Instagram . “You’re a beautiful place Evian but that’s just too many bad breaks with good shots for me, so bye.”

That left the weekend free to prepare for the Women’s British Open, the year’s final major that begins Thursday in Woburn, England.

No U.S. player has won a major this season. Americans have taken home at least one of the five major titles each year since the Evian tournament was raised in status for the 2013 edition.

Organizers brought tee times forward Saturday for the second straight day.

Full scoring can be found here.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Matthew Fitzpatrick is playing at TPC Southwind for the first time in his young career, and the 24-year-old Englishman has found a course that fits him very, very well.

Fitzpatrick shot a 6-under 64 on Friday in the FedEx St. Jude Invitational to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend at the World Golf Championships event.

Corey Conners (Listowel, Ont.) is the lone Canadian in the field. He sits seven strokes back of Fitzpatrick at 2 under.

Fitzpatrick birdied the first four holes and finished with seven birdies and a bogey. He took the lead with his fifth birdie and added two more on the back nine to finish at 9-under 131.

“The golf course probably suits me more than most,” Fitzpatrick said. “If you miss a fairway, you don’t know how it’s going to come out of the rough so that makes it tougher. If I can just keep hitting fairways and greens, then give yourself a lot of chances. And … the greens are so pure. Hopefully, from there just keep doing what I’m doing really.”

This is the third time Fitzpatrick, who is still looking for his first tour win, has had the lead or shared the lead and second this year. He led after the third round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and finished second.

“It’s a nice place to be,” he said.

Billy Horschel (66) had a chance to catch Fitzpatrick after a birdie on his 17th hole. The 2014 FedExCup champ hit his tee shot on the par-3 eighth to 4 feet only to pull his tee shot left on No. 9 and finish with a bogey. He was tied for second with Patrick Cantlay (68), Cameron Smith (68) and first-round leader Jon Rahm (71). Shugo Imahira (69) was another stroke back.

“I had a couple bad tee shots that cost me bogeys, but other than that, doing a lot of good things,” Horschel said. “Probably could have been lower if I had made a few more putts my first nine holes on the back side, get a little bit of momentum, but 4-under par on this course any day is really good.”

Top-ranked Brooks Koepka had a 67 to match 2018 FedEx Cup champ Justin Rose (68), Bubba Watson (70), Ian Poulter (69), Webb Simpson (66), and Alex Noren (69) at 5 under.

“This golf course you kind of knew everybody was going to be jam-packed,” Koepka said.

Fitzpatrick played a season at Northwestern and won the 2013 U.S. Amateur, becoming first English champ since Harold Hilton in 1911. He turned pro in 2014 and has won five times internationally.

He tied for 12th at the U.S. Open in June and tied for 20th last week at the British Open.

On Friday, Fitzpatrick started tied for 13th at 3 under. He hit 15 of 18 greens taking advantage of his strong iron play, and the difference this time was making his putts.

“It’s something I struggled to do this year,” Fitzpatrick said. “Previous years I’ve been playing great and end of last year and majority of this year I’ve struggled a little bit. I mean, it’s hard not to putt well on these greens, they’re unbelievable. I would say they’re probably the best we play on all year bar Augusta.”

He hit his approach on the par-4 first to 8 feet for birdie. He rolled in a 26-footer on No. 2, hit his third shot on the par-5 third to 8 feet and wrapped up his birdie binge on the par-3 fourth hitting his tee shot from 174 yards to 10 feet.

Fitzpatrick had a brief share of the lead at 7 under before failing to get up and down from a green-side bunker on the par-3 eighth for his lone bogey through 36 holes. He rebounded with birdie on No. 9 after hitting his second from 137 yards to 6 feet. With Rahm turning in his second straight bogey, Fitzpatrick took the lead to himself at 7 under.

Cantlay birdied No. 8 to share the lead with Fitzpatrick who hit his approach within 7 feet on No. 12 before rolling in the putt for his sixth birdie to take the lead back to himself at 8 under. He two-putted from 36 feet for birdie and a two-stroke lead at 9 under on the par-5 16th and parred out for the lead.

After a double bogey on No. 12, Cantlay birdied two of his final three holes to stay close to Fitzpatrick. He finished his round with a 40-footer for birdie.

Divots: Fitzpatrick’s 64 is his lowest score in 56 starts on the PGA Tour. … Dustin Johnson, a two-time winner of the FedEx St. Jude Classic on this course, birdied his final two holes and is at 2 under. … Johnson also hit the water off the left edge of the par-3 11th. TPC Southwind has had more balls in the water on the PGA Tour than any other course with 5,544 balls wet between 2003 and 2018.

Full scoring can be found here.

RED DEER, Alta – Brianna Navarrosa of San Diego, Calif., shot 4 under 68, overcoming a four-stroke deficit to capture the 106th Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship held at Red Deer Golf & Country Club on Friday.

Michelle Liu of Vancouver finished as the low Canadian of the tournament, becoming the youngest player ever to earn an exemption to the CP Women’s Open. Liu carded a final round of 2 over, finishing at 1 over on the tournament in a tie for 12th.

Liu will be aged 12 years, nine months and six days when the 2019 CP Women’s Open tees off on August 22 at Magna Golf club in Aurora, Ont.

“I’m very proud of myself, especially being able to play with so many well-known professional players,” said Liu. “I started off today not very well – at three over through four holes and I was like ‘oh, this may not happen.’ I managed to get back and get my scoring under control.”

Navarrosa won the championship with a tap-in par putt on the par-4 No. 18. Jennifer Chang (Cary, N.C.) was one stroke behind Navarrosa – narrowly missing a 15-foot birdie putt to force a playoff.

This is Navarrosa’s second tournament win of the season, having claimed the Buick Shanshan Feng AJGA Girls Invitational in February. By claiming the Duchess of Connaught Gold Cup, the 17-year-old earns exemptions into the 2019 CP Women’s Open and the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.

 

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“Going into today I was really hoping just to get a top three and stay consistent throughout the whole day,” said Navarrosa. “Of course I wanted to win. I wasn’t nervous going into the back nine, I was hyped to sink some putts. This will be my first LPGA event. I just want to have a good experience. If things don’t work out well, it’s ok. Just being there is an honour.”

Chang finished at 9 under par after firing 2 under 70 on Friday.

The 54-hole leader, Andrea Lee of Hermosa Beach, Calif., shot 3 over on Friday and finished in third place.

Alyaa Abdulghany (Newport Beach, Calif.) made a charge up the leaderboard to finish fourth. Abdulghany entered the final round at even-par and her round of 7 under 65 was the lowest round of the tournament.

Full results can be found here.

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France – Paula Creamer is leading a major tournament again, shooting a bogey-free 7-under 64 Thursday in the first round of the Evian Championship.

When Creamer last topped a major leaderboard, she won the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open by four strokes to get her ninth title on the LPGA tour.

At the Evian Resort Golf Club, where she had a signature win as a teenager, the 32-year-old American moved one shot clear after making her seventh birdie on the par-5 18th.

“I feel really just in control,” said Creamer, now ranked No. 156 and whose last top-10 finish in a major and last tournament win were both in 2014. “It’s been several years where I felt like just all-in-all good in my shoes.”

Creamer dressed all in black as temperatures rose to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees F) in the French heatwave. She took 31 shots to reach the turn and stayed clear of four players who peppered the back nine with birdies.

At 6 under were Brittany Altomare, who earned a career-best runner-up finish in Evian in 2017, seven-time major winner Inbee Park, No. 2-ranked Jin Young Ko, and Mi Hyang Lee.

Two shots behind Creamer on 5 under were Jennifer Kupcho – the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur winner in April – and Mel Reid of England, who got the day’s only eagle at the 18th.

Top-ranked Sung Hyun Park was among three players on 4 under, three shots back.

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp opened with a round of even 71, while Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., was at 1-over 72.

The picturesque 6,527-yard course at Evian, on a hillside overlooking Lake Geneva, was ideal for Creamer to confirm her return to form after some tough seasons.

“Coming here obviously puts a big smile on my face,” said the 2005 rookie of the year, who at age 18 won the Evian Masters before it got its current status.

In the 2017 Evian, Creamer withdrew injured before having surgery on her left wrist. That led to a 2018 season with no top-10 finishes, not helped by a marriage breakup.

“It’s been crazy these last four or five years in my life,” she acknowledged. “It’s hard enough out here, then you bring your other life into the mix of things.”

Now, the 10-time winner on the LPGA tour said she feels “like mentally I’m in a very, very strong place.”

Another comeback was enjoyed Thursday by the player who Creamer followed as rookie of the year.

Shi Hyun Ahn, runner-up at the 2004 LPGA behind Annika Sorenstam, carded a 1-under 70 in her first round at a major tournament since April 2011. Ahn had returned to South Korea, gave birth to a daughter who is now aged seven, and returned to play on the domestic tour in her home country.

Kupcho is perhaps this season’s must-see rookie after becoming the first woman to win a tournament on the Masters course at Augusta, a long-time bastion of men-only membership.

The 22-year-old turned professional several weeks ago after a stellar college career at Wake Forest. She felt right at home at Evian, where she helped a U.S. collegiate team win the 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup.

“It’s kind of nice to have a familiar place to go,” said Kupcho. “Before last year I had never been over to Europe, so coming over jet lag definitely messed with me a little bit.”

Kupcho had six birdies and one bogey in her 66.

Americans at the other end of the leaderboard included defending champion Angela Stanford, who shot 5-over 76, and third-ranked Lexi Thompson, who three-putted the 18th for a 77.

The Evian Championship went back to July in the calendar having been being moved to September when getting major status in 2013. The switch aimed to avoid seasonal rain which twice made it a 54-hole event.

Still, storms and rain are forecast for the weekend, and organizers moved Friday’s tee times forward by 30 minutes in a bid to beat the worst of the weather.

Full scoring can be found here.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Travelling from Northern Ireland to Tennessee has left everyone who played four rounds at the British Open fighting jet lag.

Jon Rahm’s putter helped him recover pretty quickly.

Rahm matched the lowest round of his PGA Tour career with an 8-under 62 on Thursday at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational, taking advantage of nearly perfect greens to open a three-stroke lead in the World Golf Championships event.

“I was pretty exhausted Monday and Tuesday, and that’s why I decided not to do much on the golf course and just make sure mentally I was going to be ready to compete,” Rahm said.

He spent about an hour on the putting green Wednesday. He didn’t step foot on the front nine, his back nine, until he made the turn, and he had five birdies on that side.

Rahm rolled in five putts of at least 16 feet for birdies in the bogey-free opening round at TPC Southwind. The Spaniard finished with a 7-footer to save par. He also opened with 62s last year in his CareerBuilder Challenge victory and in January in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

“That’s what made it so comforting because I knew, especially with the greens being this pure, if I started a ball online I was going to have a chance,” Rahm said.

Corey Conners (67) of Listowel, Ont. was tied for 13th.

Bubba Watson, Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Smith and Shugo Imahira shot 65. Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter were among six players at 66 on a day featuring near perfect conditions with temperatures in the mid-80s lacking the humidity Memphis usually melts through in late July.

Justin Thomas, the winner of the WGC event last year in its final time at Firestone in Ohio, had a 68. Dustin Johnson, the St. Jude Classic winner on this course last year, and Rory McIlroy, who missed the cut by a stroke last week in the British Open, each shot 69.

Johnson was 3 over at the turn, and the only man in the field to win on this course – with victories in 2012 and 2018 – switched up his putting grip while over the ball on No. 1. He moved his left hand below his right and worked his way back under par with birdies on five birdies and one bogey.

“It couldn’t get any worse, so I figured I had to try something …,” Johnson said. “I hit great shots, I was always in good positions. I should have shot 3 or 4 under on the front, I shoot 3 over. It was, yeah, not very good.”

Matsuyama was the first to 5 under after a 21-foot birdie putt on the par-3 11th with the island green. Then Matsuyama hit his tee shot on the par-4 12th left of the cart path and two-putted for bogey.

That’s when Rahm, a three-time winner at the age of 24, got going. Even though he had only played nine practice holes Wednesday, Rahm had very little trouble on the 7,237-yard course.

The Spaniard who played at Arizona State rolled in an 18-footer on the 18th, then made the turn with back-to-back putts of 18 feet for three consecutive birdies. He hit his tee shot on the par-4 sixth into the weeds left of the fairway and hit his second 110 yards to 2 feet to go to 6 under.

His putter came through again with a 16-footer on No. 7, then he got his eighth birdie of the round with a yet another long putt – just shy of 16 feet on the par-3 eight. He saved par with a 7-footer on his final hole.

“I tried to put a stress or a little emphasis on being rested, and it paid off today,” Rahm said. “Obviously, I have three more days to go and hopefully the battery lasts.”

This is the best round yet at a World Golf Championships event for Rahm, who won his third PGA Tour title earlier this year teaming with Ryan Palmer at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans. He also tied for third at the U.S. Open in June and tied for 11th last week at the British Open. Rahm tied for 17th in this event last year in Ohio.

Divots: Jordan Spieth was a stroke off the lead at 4 under through 11, and he finished with birdies on two of his final three holes. But he also had a pair of triple bogeys after hitting tee shots into the water on the 12th and 15th. He finished with a 70.

Full scoring can be found here.