Canadian Open Golf

Rory McIlroy watches his tee shot on the 17th hole Sunday on his way to winning the Canadian Open in Toronto. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP

TORONTO — Rory McIlroy won the RBC Canadian Open on Sunday and gave the PGA Tour a strong response to the start of the Saudi-funded LIV Golf Invitational, closing with an 8-under 62 to win a wild race to the finish with Justin Thomas and Tony Finau.

McIlroy got his first title defense on the PGA Tour, even if he had to wait for it. He won golf’s fourth-oldest national open in 2019 at Hamilton Golf & Country Club, only for the the COVID-19 pandemic to cancel the next two editions.

Thomas pushed him to the end at St. George’s Golf & Country Club, but the tournament effectively ended on the 17th hole. McIlroy and Thomas were tied and in the rough. McIlroy hit a wedge that rolled out to tap-in range for a birdie, while Thomas missed a 10-foot par putt. Thomas closed with a pair of bogeys and still shot 64.

McIlroy finished at 19-under 261 for a two-stroke victory.

Finau holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 64 to finish second. Thomas was third at 14 under. Justin Rose matched the tournament- and course-record with a 60 – with three eagles and three bogeys – to tie for fourth with Sam Burns (65) at 14 under.

The Canadian crowd was enormous, having been kept away since 2019, and thousands surrounded the 18th green as the threesome of McIlroy, Thomas and Finau finished.

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McIlroy as been one of the strongest opponents of the LIV Golf series and spoke out against the money being paid to players like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson. Greg Norman, who runs LIV Golf, said in a story in the Washington Post that McIlroy had been “brainwashed” by the PGA Tour.

The victory was the second for McIlroy this season, adding to his victory in Las Vegas last October in the CJ Cup. He won for the 21st time on the PGA Tour.

“This is a day I’ll remember for a long, long time,“McIlroy said. “Twenty-one PGA Tour wins, one more than somebody else.”

It was a dig at Norman, who had 20 career PGA Tour wins.

Rose was 11 under for his round with three holes to play. He bogeyed the 16th, hit to 2 feet on 17 for birdie, then went over the green on 18 and missed an 18-foot par putt.

LPGA: Brooke Henderson eagled the first playoff hole and beat Lindsey Weaver-Wright to capture the ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway Township, New Jersey, for her 11th win on tour.

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Henderson shot a bogey-free 7-under 64 at Seaview Hotel and Golf Club to win for the first time in a year. The 24-year-old Canadian rallied from a four-shot deficit entering the final round of the 54-hole tournament and finished at 12-under 201.

Weaver-Wright, a 28-year-old American still looking for her first tour win, forced the playoff with birdies on four of the last six holes, including a long one at No. 17 and a 10-footer at the par-5 final hole for a 65.

The playoff started at the reachable par-5 No. 18, and both found the fairway. Henderson got within 10 feet of the cup with her second shot, while Weaver-Wright was short of the green. Her third shot landed around the same distance from the hole as Henderson, but she was away. She missed her birdie putt and Henderson had no pressure making the eagle.

Jodi Eward Shadoff of England made an eagle on the final hole to finish a shot behind the leaders at 11 under. The 34-year-old has never won on the tour.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Linn Grant, a 22-year-old Swede, made history as the first female winner on the European Tour, obliterating a field of both male and female golfers at the Scandinavian Mixed event in Tylosand, Sweden, as she won by nine strokes after an 8-under 64 in the final round at Halmstad Golf Club.

Grant started the day with a two-stroke lead and steadily built up her advantage by making birdie at five of her first six holes.

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It was the second staging of a tournament that started with 78 men and 78 women, playing the same course – albeit off different tees – for one prize fund and one trophy.

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, who hosted the event along with compatriot Annika Sorenstam, shot 70 and tied for second place with Marc Warren (65).

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Thongchai Jaidee became the first Thai winner in PGA Tour Champions history, closing with a 4-under 68 for a one-stroke victory in the American Family Insurance Championship at Madison, Wisconsin.

A week after playing his way into the event with a 10th-place finish in Iowa, the 52-year-old Thongchai won in his 19th start on the 50-and-over tour. He finished at 14-under 202 at University Ridge.

Tom Pernice Jr. was second after a 66.


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