CROMWELL, Conn. — Journeyman Ken Duke made a 2½-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole Sunday to beat Chris Stroud at the Travelers Championship to win his first PGA Tour event.
Stroud had chipped in from 51 feet on the 18th hole to force the playoff.
But the 44-year-old Duke made the better approach shot on the second extra hole, bouncing his ball in front of the flag and rolling it close.
Duke wouldn’t have been there at all had luck not intervened on the 10th hole, when his ball ricocheted off a tree and onto the green to about 5 feet from the pin, allowing him to make birdie.
Canadian Graham DeLaet finished a stroke back in third place. Bubba Watson finished fourth, two shots behind, after making a 6 on the par-3 16th hole.
LPGA Tour
ROGERS, Ark. — World No. 1 Inbee Park sank a 4-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole against So Yeon Ryu, capping her final-round rally and winning the LPGA NW Arkansas Championship.
The victory is the second straight for Park, who won the LPGA Championship two weeks ago, and the fifth of the year for the South Korean star. She now has seven wins in her last 23 starts.
Park began the day two shots back of a group of four leaders, but she vaulted to the top with three straight birdies on the front nine.
Park and Ryu finished the tournament tied at 12 under, one shot ahead of Mika Miyazato. It’s the second straight year Miyazato has finished as the runner-up.
European Tour
MUNICH — Ernie Els won the BMW International Open by one shot for his 28th European Tour title. He closed with a third straight 3-under 69 to finish at 18-under 270 on the Eichenried Golf Club course. Els was in front after the first and second rounds and entered the last day as part of a three-way lead.
Thomas Bjorn of Denmark shot a 69 and finished a stroke back. Alexander Levy of France had a 71 and was another stroke off the pace for his best result.
Els is a two-time winner at both the U.S. Open and British Open. He is the first South African to win the BMW International in the competition’s 25th edition.
Champions Tour
GLENVIEW, Ill. — Craig Stadler birdied four of the first six holes, then hung on to win the Encompass Championship by one stroke over Fred Couples by sinking a par-saving 12-foot putt on the final hole.
Stadler’s eight years and almost nine months between victories is the longest stretch in Champions Tour history. J.C. Snead had gone almost seven years between titles from 1995 to 2002.
Stadler shot 1-under-par 71 at North Shore Country Club to finish at 13-under 203. Couples’ final-round 66 put him at 12 under, but he bogeyed the final hole.
Mark O’Meara, Bernhard Langer, David Frost and Jeff Sluman were among seven players tied for third at 205.
Stadler hadn’t scored an individual top-10 since tying for seventh in last year’s 3M Championship. Working with teacher Billy Harmon beginning three months ago helped bring Stadler’s game back to championship level.
