NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — Patty Tavatanakit holed a 25-foot birdie putt and Jake Knapp gave them the lead on the next hole with a tough pitch to set up birdie as the UCLA duo combined for a 7-under 65 on Sunday for a one-shot victory in the Grant Thornton Invitational.
They won on their respective tours on the same day this year — Knapp at the Mexico Open, Tavatanakit at the Honda LPGA Thailand — and were equally impressive as a team, especially down the stretch at Tiburon Golf Club.
Jeeno Thitikul, who won the LPGA finale at Tiburon last month for the $4 million prize, holed an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole as she and Tom Kim shot 64 to finish alone in second.
Akshay Bhatia and Jennifer Kupcho made a mess of the 18th hole for their lone bogey in the modified fourballs format and finished third.
PGA Tour
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Lanto Griffin holed a 40-foot putt for eagle on his first hole that sent him to a 7-under 63 in the final round of Q-school on Sunday, the leader of six players who earned PGA Tour cards for next year.
Griffin was the medalist at 9-under 271, but all that mattered was being among the the top five and ties to get full status as the PGA Tour goes through sharp changes that include smaller fields starting in 2025.
Hayden Buckley (67) and former world No. 1 amateur Takumi Kanaya of Japan (69) also made it through. Kanaya holed 8-foot par putts on his last two holes. They were followed at 4-under 276 by Alejandro Tosti of Argentina (66), Will Chandler (66) and Matthew Riedel (72).
Players who didn’t earn cards will have various levels of status on the Korn Ferry Tour.
European tour and Sunshine Tour
MALELANE, South Africa (AP) — Shaun Norris of South Africa overcame a six-shot deficit Sunday and closed with a 5-under 67 for a one-shot victory in the Alfred Dunhill Championship, his second European tour title.
Marcus Kinhult, who had a two-shot lead at the start, had two bogeys and a double bogey through seven holes at Leopard Creek and closed with a 74, tying for second with John Parry (69) and Ryan Van Velzen (72).
Norris had an early eagle offset by a double bogey on the par-3 seventh, but he was bogey-free the rest of the way and finished at 13-under 275. Van Velzen was tied for the lead until take bogey on the par-5 closing hole.
Other tours
Ben Henkel closed with an even-par 70 and won a three-man playoff against Dylan Gardner (62) and Corey Lamb (67) in the Gippsland Super 6 on the PGA Tour of Australia.
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