BETHESDA, Md. — Justin Rose got his mistake out of the way one hole early and won the Quicken Loans National in a playoff Sunday over Shawn Stefani.
Tied for the lead as he played the 18th hole at Congressional, Rose tried to hit through two trees left of the fairway and overturned the shot. It ran down a bank and into the water, and he had to hole a 15-foot bogey putt just to stay in the game.
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That proved to be the biggest shot he hit all day.
Behind him, Stefani made bogey on the 17th and narrowly missed a birdie putt on the 18th to set up the first playoff in the eight-year history of the event.
And then it was Stefani who essentially repeated Rose’s mistake on the first extra hole at No. 18, putting his second shot in the water on the way to a double bogey.
It was Rose’s first win since the U.S. Open last June at Merion, and it felt like he won another U.S. Open as tough as Congressional played. With putting surfaces that had a brown tinge and thick rough, it was a far stronger test than when the Open was held in soggy conditions in 2011.
“Congressional got its reputation back after the U.S. Open,” Rose said. “I really enjoy this type of golf and this type of test. I think it tested all of us. I’m delighted.”
Rose and Stefani each closed with a 1-under 70 and finished at 4-under 280.
LPGA: Stacy Lewis made a 7-foot birdie putt on the final hole in the NW Arkansas Championship at Rogers, Arkansas, to finally win an official event in her adopted state.
The top-ranked Lewis, a Texan who played at the University of Arkansas, had an unofficial win in the rain-shortened 2007 event as an amateur. On Sunday, she closed with a 6-under 65 for a one-stroke victory.
Lewis finished at 12-under 201. Lydia Ko (65), Cristie Kerr (67) and Angela Stanford (67) tied for second. Second-round leader Michelle Wie shot a 73 and tied for eighth at 8 under.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Bernhard Langer made a short birdie putt on the second hole of a playoff with Jeff Sluman to win the Senior Players Championship in Pittsburgh.
Langer, a two-time Masters champion, shot an even-par 70 to finish at 15-under 265.
Sluman had a bogey-free 65 to match Langer, but narrowly missed a birdie putt on the first playoff hole.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Fabrizio Zanotti won the BMW International Open at Cologne, Germany, to become the first player from Paraguay to win a European Tour event, beating second-ranked Henrik Stenson on the fifth hole of a playoff.
Zanotti closed with a 7-under 65 to match Gregory Havret (66), Stenson (67) and Rafa Cabrera-Bello (67) at 19-under 269. Cabrera-Bello was eliminated on the fourth extra hole, and Havret dropped out on the second hole.
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