GOLF
Conners earns first PGA Tour victory at Texas Open
Corey Conners broke through for his maiden PGA Tour title after winning the Texas Open by two strokes.
Canadian Conners claimed his maiden Tour trophy after his final-round 66 sealed victory ahead of Charley Hoffman on Sunday.
Conners had to outplay 54-hole leader Kim Si-woo and then had to fend off Hoffman and a streaking Ryan Moore at TPC San Antonio.
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The 27-year-old was able to remain at the top of the leaderboard behind 10 birdies, with four bogeys not enough to destabilise him.
O Canada! @CoreConn's crazy round ends with a victory.The Canadian has claimed his first win @ValeroTXOpen. #LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/7erU6qgeNG— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 7, 2019
Conners reached 20 under overall to become the first Monday qualifier to win since 2010 as he earned the final Masters invite.
He secured a two-stroke lead with two holes to play after American Hoffman could not convert a birdie on the 16th hole.
Hoffman, who won the event in 2016, did birdie the par-five 18th, but it came too late. He finished five-under 67 to claim second place.
A dream realized at the @ValeroTxOpen.@CoreConn earns his first PGA TOUR victory.He’s the first Monday qualifier to win since 2010.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/VOJWtcmUQ1— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 7, 2019
Moore finished in third and three shots off the pace after moving into contention with the help of an eagle to start his day.
He was mistake free and had six birdies for his best round of the tournament, an eight-under-par 64.
At one point, Moore birdied four holes through a stretch on the back nine to share the lead but could not fire anymore and had two back-to-back pars on the 17th and 18th holes.
Overnight leader Kim (72) fell into a tie for fourth place with Brian Stuard (66) at 15 as a double-bogey and two bogeys halted his momentum.
With his win @ValeroTXOpen, @CoreConn earned: 500 #FedExCup points Fully exempt status thru the 2020-21 season 2019 Masters 2019 PGA Championship 2019 @MemorialGolf 2020 @Sentry_TOC 2020 @GenesisOpen 2020 @APInv 2020 @THEPLAYERSChamp#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/IRuZdXJVXw— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 8, 2019
Kevin Streelman (64) was outright sixth, while Graeme McDowell (66), An Byeong-hun (66), Matt Kuchar (69), Jason Kokrak (68), Danny Lee (70), Adam Schenk (70) and Scott Brown (71) rounded out the top 10.
Rickie Fowler's 69 saw him finish at 10 under – three strokes ahead of countryman and former world number one Jordan Spieth.
Spieth's forgettable weekend continued after the three-time major champion carded an even-par 72, having posted a 73 on Saturday.
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