JEJU, South Korea — Justin Thomas beat Australia’s Marc Leishman on the second playoff hole Sunday to win the inaugural CJ Cup in South Korea and cap his breakout year on the PGA Tour.
Thomas sealed his fifth PGA title in 2017 – and his first of the new 2017-18 PGA season – when he birdied the second extra hole and Leishman made bogey after finding the water.
The pair went to a sudden-death playoff after completing the first U.S. PGA Tour regular-season event in South Korea tied at 9-under 279.
Thomas, who shared the overnight lead with Scott Brown, fell behind when he had a double bogey on the 550-yard par-5 No. 3 hole.
Thomas regained the lead and looked set for the win in regulation until he bogeyed No. 17, a 195-yard par 3 hole. But he made amends with a birdie at the last to join Leishman in the playoff.
LPGA: Eun-Hee Ji fired a 7-under-par 65 to win the Taiwan Championship in Taipei for her first LPGA title since the 2009 U.S. Women’s Open.
Ji, who had a six-stroke lead heading into the final round, carded seven birdies to finish at 17-under 271, six strokes ahead of Lydia Ko, who also closed with a 65.
Top-ranked So Yeon Ryu also shot a bogey-free 65 to move into a tie for third place with Lizette Salas and Carlota Ciganda.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Tournament host Sergio Garcia won the Andalucia Valderrama Masters after shooting 4-under 67 in the final round at Sotogrande, Spain.
It was the Spaniard’s sixth win on home soil and his second at Real Club Valderrama. He won the Andalucia Masters in 2011.
Garcia made five birdies to go with one bogey, as he finished on 12-under 272 – one stroke ahead of Joost Luiten of the Netherlands.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Bernhard Langer made a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th hole to overcome a mediocre round and win the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, the first event in the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs, at Richmond, Virginia.
Langer, even par for the day before getting to the easiest hole, beat Scott Verplank by one shot. Verplank shot a bogey-free 6-under 66 to erase a five-shot deficit, but missed short birdie putts on the 17th and 18th holes.
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