CARNOUSTIE, Scotland: Anna Nordqvist stayed out of trouble to make a routine par at the last and win the Womens British Open for her third major title.
For playing partner Nanna Koerstz Madsen, her 72nd hole of the tournament could hardly have been more traumatic.
The Scandinavians were tied for the lead at 12 under as they made their way down the No. 18 at Carnoustie on Sunday. After Nordqvist landed her approach from the middle of the fairway safely on the green and 25 feet from the pin, Koerstz Madsen turned away in disgust as she pushed her shot from the light rough on the left into a horseshoe-shaped greenside bunker on the right.
Facing a plugged ball and a downhill lie at the back of the bunker, Koerstz Madsen shanked a shot that flew sideways and almost out-of-bounds at the back of the green.
The Danish players chip from straggly rough fell short and left of the cup, leaving Nordqvist with two putts for the title. The second was a tap-in from a couple of inches, securing a one-shot victory.
Nordqvist closed with a 3-under 69. Lizette Salas (69), 2018 champion Georgia Hall (67) and Madelene Sagstrom (68) tied for second, with a double bogey at the last dropping Koerstz Madsen (71) into a tie for fifth with Minjee Lee (66).
By adding the Womens Open to her victories at the 2009 LPGA Championship and the 2017 Evian Championship, the 34-year-old Swede became just the third European woman after Annika Sorenstam and Laura Davies to have won three or more majors. She earned $870,000 from the $5.8 million purse, the largest in womens golf.
PGA TOUR
JERSEY CITY, N.J.: Liberty National avoided the brunt of the wind from Hurricane Henri, but not the rain that forced the final round of The Northern Trust to finish Monday. That was the hope, anyway.
Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith finished the third round Saturday tied for the lead at 16-under 197, one shot ahead of Erik van Rooyen in the FedEx Cup playoff opener.
The PGA Tour decided before the third round even began that Henri posed too much danger for players, spectators and volunteers to be at Liberty National on Sunday. Officials came to the course along the Hudson River and found the course to be in reasonable shape.
A steady rain kept falling into early Sunday afternoon. The tour released tee times for 7:30 a.m. with threesomes starting on both sides.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
SNOQUALMIE, Wash.: Rod Pampling won the Boeing Classic for his first PGA Tour Champions victory when Jim Furyk and Woody Austin failed to get up-and-down for birdie from greenside bunkers on the par-5 18th.
Pampling, playing five groups ahead of Furyk and Austin at Snoqualmie Ridge, shot a 6-under 66 to finish at 12-under 204. The 51-year-old Australian won three times on the PGA Tour, the last in 2017 in Las Vegas, and has two PGA Tour of Australasia wins.
Furyk dropped a stroke back with a bogey on the par-3 17th after hitting well short of the green and chipping 8 feet past. He hit left into a greenside bunker on 18, sent his third across the green nearly to the fringe and missed a 20-footer.
Austin, the second-round leader, took two to get out of a right-side bunker and made a bogey to drop to 10 under.
Furyk had a 70 to tie for second with Tim Herron (67) and Billy Mayfair (69). Austins closing 72 left him tied for fifth with Alex Cejka (66).
EUROPEAN TOUR
VYSOKY UJEZD, Czech Republic: Johannes Veerman won the Czech Masters for his first European Tour title, closing with a 4-under 68 for a two-stroke victory.
The 29-year-old American finished at 15-under 273 at Albatross Golf Resort near Prague.
Fellow American Sean Crocker (70) and Finlands Tapio Pulkkanen (72) tied for second.
OTHER TOURS
Kazuki Higa won the Japan Golf Tour’s Shigeo Nagashima Invitational Sega Sammy Cup in Hokkaido. He closed with a 4-under 68 to finish at 20 under, two stokes ahead of Kunihiro Kamii. … Norway’s Espen Kofstad won the Challenge Tour’s Sydbank Esbjerg Challenge in Denmark, beating Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff. Koftsad closed with a 4-under 67 to match Ferguson (69) at 11 under. … Denmarks Thomas Bjorn won the Irish Legends for his first Legends Tour title, beating Wales Phillip Price with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff. Bjorn closed with a 6-under 65 to match Price (69) at 15 under at Rosapenna Hotel & Golf Resort. … Sakura Kobetsu won the Japan LPGA’s CAT Ladies for her fifth victory of the season and sixth overall. She shot a 1-under 71 in high wind to finish at 7 under, two strokes ahead of three players. … Lim Hee Jeong closed with a 3-under 69 for a one-stroke victory in the Korean LPGA’s HighOne Resort Ladies Open. She finished at 11 under.
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