Golf: Danny Lee prevails in play-off to win at LIV Tucson
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Danny Lee celebrating after winning LIV Golf Tucson in Marana, Arizona, on March 19, 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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ARIZONA – New Zealand’s Danny Lee fired a two-under 69 in the third round before prevailing in a four-man play-off to win LIV Golf Tucson in Marana, Arizona on Sunday.
Lee closed with his sixth birdie for a round that included four bogeys on Sunday, leaving him tied with Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz (65), American Brendan Steele (70) and Louis Oosthuizen (70) of South Africa at nine-under 204 after 54 holes.
A 25-foot birdie putt on the second play-off hole then sealed the victory for Lee, who had not won on a tour in eight years.
“Last win I had was 2015 at Greenbrier. That was also a four-man play-off,” said Lee, who collected US$4 million (S$5.35 million) in prize money for the win.
“Maybe it was a coincidence, I don’t know. But it feels pretty amazing right now.
“I wasn’t even looking at the individual score all day. I was only asking: How is our team doing?
“This individual victory, it means a lot...
“I just felt like winning wasn’t my thing, but today that just changed.
“It’s just good to see I’m capable of playing some good golf.”
Despite coming up just short individually, Ortiz was able to celebrate as a member of Fireballs GC, who finished at 25 under to top the team leaderboard.
The other members are Sergio Garcia, Abraham Ancer and Eugenio Chacarra.
4Aces GC (21 under) and Lee’s squad, Iron Heads GC (19 under), finished in second and third respectively.
“It’s great,” Ortiz said of having his team pull out a win. “I think we’ve been pretty solid. We did well in Mayakoba, we finished terrible and we ended falling from the podium to sixth place, so it was nice revenge here.”
Outside of the three-way tie for second place in individual play, Charles Howell III recorded a 71 in the third round to finish fifth at eight-under 205.
Garcia (73), Kevin Na (71), Matt Jones (69) and Mito Pereira (67) all tied for sixth at seven under, two strokes off the lead.
Peter Uihlein (68), Matthew Wolff (72) and Branden Grace (70) finished joint-10th.
Second-round leader Marc Leishman shot a 77, causing him to slide down the leaderboard and finish in a five-way tie for 13th. REUTERS
