Cam Davis celebrates winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Country Club on Sunday in Detroit.
AP photo
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Ruoning Yin, left, and Atthaya Thitikul, right, hold the trophy after winning the Dow Championship LPGA tournament Sunday at Midland Country Club in Midland, Mich.
AP photo
DETROIT — Cam Davis was preparing for a playoff when Akshay Bhatia’s 4-foot putt started left, went right, touched the edge of the cup and rolled away.
Joy and pain.
Davis won the Rocket Mortgage Classic for the second time, closing with a 2-under 70 on Sunday that gave him a one-shot victory when Bhatia three-putted from 32 feet on the final hole.
“I wouldn’t wish what happened to Akshay on anyone,” Davis said. “But I’ve done a lot of grinding to kind of get myself out of a hole and just all of a sudden to do that, it’s pretty good.”
Davis, who won his only other PGA Tour title three years ago at Detroit Golf Club, had not finished better than 38th in sixth starts since he tied for 12th at the Masters in April, his best result of the season.
“I started working with a hypnotherapist a few weeks ago just to take another angle into trying to get myself sorted out,” he said. “I saw a little bit of a spark last week, but nothing to show this (was) coming.
“This is crazy.”
The 29-year-old Australian pulled into a tie with Bhatia with a birdie on the par-5 17th hole.
That proved to be enough when the left-handed Bhatia, who uses a long putter, watched his short par attempt on the 18th miss low and right for his first three-putt of the week.
“Just a little bit of nerves, honestly,” Bhatia said. “I’m human.”
Davis finished at 18-under 270 on a day of missed opportunities for the final pairing of Bhatia and Aaron Rai, each of whom shot an even-par 72. Davis Thompson (68) and Min Woo Lee (69) also finished one shot back.
Davis, who entered the tournament ranked 67th in the world, became the first two-time winner of the event since its debut on the PGA Tour schedule in 2019.
“It’s just nice to know that I can get my hands on another trophy,” he said.
The 22-year-old Bhatia was seeking his third PGA Tour title and second this year after leading or sharing the lead after each of the first three rounds. He was coming off a fifth-place finish at the Travelers Championship, where he was in the final group that was disrupted by climate protesters storming the 18th green.
“I know how to close a golf tournament. I’ve done it before,” Bhatia said. “Just today wasn’t my day.”
Cameron Young shot 73 and plummeted to sixth place with two bogeys over the last three holes.
The pressure to win for the first time on tour may have gotten the best of Young, who has been a runner-up seven times, on the par-5 14th when his drive traveled 254 yards into the rough way left of the fairway.
With the ball in flight, Young pushed his driver into the tee box and broke the shaft. He was unable to replace it for the rest of the round.
Davis surged into a tie for the lead with three birdies in a five-hole stretch on the front nine.
Earlier in the afternoon, there were signs that it might not be Bhatia’s day.
Rai, who shared the second- and third-round lead with Bhatia, went ahead on the first hole after hitting his approach from 142 yards to 5 feet for birdie.
Bhatia fell two shots back on the par-4 third hole, where his approach settled in thick rough. He only advanced his chip 9 feet, leading to bogey.
Bhatia responded with a 31-foot birdie putt on the par-5 fourth, the first of just two birdies on the day. He was 17 under through three rounds, but the missed putt will be the lasting memory of his week.
“It’s a very tough situation to be in for him and for someone to be the benefactor of that is a bit of a weird situation to be in,” Davis said. “At the same time, just so much relief because it has been a long time since I’ve come out on top.
“I’m going to make sure I start enjoying it and really appreciating it.”
LPGA TOUR
MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) — Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand made a 12-foot birdie putt on the last hole as she and Ruoning Yin of China won the Dow Championship by closing with an 8-under 62 in the fourballs format.
Thitikul and and Yin, good friends who each briefly were No. 1 in the women’s world ranking, led by two on the back nine over Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho until Ewing rallied to tie. Ewing birdied the 14th and 15th holes and hit a tough chip to save par on the 16th to stay tied.
Thitikul and Ruoning played in the group ahead, and Thitikul hit a tee shot on the par-3 18th over water to 12 feet behind the cup. Her birdie putt was true all the way, and they were all smiles as they headed to the clubhouse to see if it would hold up.
Ewing missed a 25-foot birdie putt on the last hole that would have forced a playoff. She and Kupcho shot a 64.
EUROPEAN TOUR
VERCIA, Italy (AP) — Marcel Siem made a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole to force a playoff, and he beat Tom McKibbin on the first extra hole to win the Italian Open.
It was Siem’s sixth victory on the European tour, winning in the German’s fourth tournament back after hip surgery in February.
Both Siem and McKibbin finished at 10-under par.
Siem was three strokes ahead of clubhouse leader McKibbin eight holes into his final round. Then four bogeys put him one stroke back going to the 18th. But Siem holed a 20-foot putt to finish with an even-par 71 and force the playoff.
McKibbin posted a bogey-free 65 in his final round at Adriatic Golf Club Cervia. He had the consolation prize of earning a spot in the British Open along with American Sean Crocker, who shot 68 to finish one stroke behind the leaders.
USGA, PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Hiroyuki Fujita held a three-stroke lead with eight holes to play in the final round of the U.S. Senior Open on Sunday when the tournament was suspended because of severe weather at Newport Country Club.
Fujita was 2 under for the day when the horn sounded at 3 p.m. because of storms. The USGA announced at 4:55 p.m. that the tournament would resume Monday.
Richard Bland birdied the first three holes to move into second place. The Senior PGA champion was 13 under for the tournament with eight holes left. Richard Green was 1 under for the day and at minus-12 for the tournament. Steve Stricker, the U.S. Senior Open runner-up each of the last two years, was 2 over for the fourth round to fall six shots off the lead.
Tournament organizers tried to squeeze the golf in between the morning fog, which enshrouded the towers of the nearby Newport Bridge and blocked the view of the greens from the tees, and the severe weather forecast for the afternoon.
KORN FERRY TOUR
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Max McGreevy birdied the 18th hole for a 2-under 71 and a one-shot victory in the Memorial Health Championship, moving him to No. 2 on the Korn Ferry Tour points list and assuring a full PGA Tour card next year.
McGreevy was tied with Steven Fisk, who had already posted a 67, when he made birdie to avoid a playoff at Panther Creek.
Fisk, with his runner-up finish, moved to the top of the points list. Jackson Suber shot 66 and finished third.
McGreevy posted his sixth top 10 of the year on the Korn Ferry Tour, including a runner-up finish last month in North Carolina.
OTHER TOURS
Florida State alum Fredrik Kjettrup of Denmark won his second straight PGA Tour Americas event when he shot 3-under 69 for a three-shot victory in the ATB Classic in Canada. … Kathleen Scavo won the Dream First Bank Charity Classic in a six-hole playoff over Daniela Iacobelli on the Epson Tour. Scavo played the 18th hole at Buffalo Dunes seven times in 1-over par — a bogey in regulation to cause the playoff and then six pars until Iacobelli finally made bogey. … Joel Moscatel of Spain birdied the last hole for a 2-under 70 and then beat Benjamin Hebert of France with a par on the first playoff hole to win Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge in France for his second Challenge Tour win this year. … Alice Hewson of England closed with a 6-under 65 and won a playoff over Tvesa Malik of India to capture the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open on the Ladies European Tour. … Shiho Kuwaki won her first Japan LPGA title when she closed with a 3-under 69 for a two-shot victory over Kotone Hori in the Shiseido Ladies Open. … Hyunkyung Park closed with a 3-under 69 and birdied the first playoff hole to beat Yerim Choi in the McCol-Mona Park Yongpyong Open on the Korea LPGA.