It was a busy weekend for golf fantasy with all three major tours on the go. A journeyman and hometown favorite delivered the performance of his career over the weekend at the Quicken Loans National while a veteran Swede pulled out a quality victory at BMW International Open. Meanwhile, the No. 1 golfer in the world on the women’s side finally broke through with her first win since going back-to-back in late March at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship. Here is a recap of the events from around the world in golf fantasy this past week.
Quicken Loans National
PGA Tour
Our golf fantasy recap on the PGA Tour starts with Billy Hurley III. He held back tears when he was handed the trophy following his first PGA Tour victory at the Quicken Loans National on Sunday. The 34-year-old American, who is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who lives in nearby Annapolis, closed with a two-under par 69 to finish three strokes ahead of Vijay Singh for first place. Hurley needed a stunning chip-in on 15 followed by a beautiful putt on 16 to pull away for good and clinch the emotional win at the event hosted by Tiger Woods. The win comes about 13 months after his father unexpectedly passed after last year’s tournament in Bethesda. Prior to this event, Hurley had made the cut at just five of his first 11 starts so far this season with zero finishes in the top-40. Meanwhile, the former world No. 1 Singh failed to capture his first PGA Tour win in eight years but settled for a strong runner-up finish with Bill Haas and John Rahm one stroke further back in a tie for third.
Top 10 Scores From The Quickens Loans National
Billy Hurley III -17
Vijay Singh -14
Jon Rahm -13
Bill Haas -13
Ernie Els -12
Webb Simpson -10
Harold Varner III -9
Francesco Molinari -8
Robert Garrigos -8
Smylie Kaufman -7
BMW International Open
European Tour
Our golf fantasy recap on the European Tour starts with Henrik Stenson. He survived an inconsistent final round to clinch a victory at the BMW International Open at Pulheim on Sunday. Stenson hit final day 67 and 71 to claim the win by three strokes ahead of Darren Fichardt and Thorbjorn Oleson. It was a strong bounce back effort from Stenson after he was forced to miss the U.S. Open last week because of injury as he clinched his 10th-career European Tour title on the rain soaked course at the Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof despite finishing with a 71 that marked his worst round of the tournament. Raphael Jacquelin finished fourth at 11-under while Sergio Garcia and Kiradech Aphibarnrat rounded out the top-five at 10-under.
Top 10 Scores From The BMW International Open
Henrik Stenson -17
Darren Fichardt -14
Thorbiom Olesen -14
Raphael Jacquelin -11
Kiradech Aphibarnrat -10
Sergio Garcia -10
David Horsey -19
Bernd Wiesberger -9
Robert Dinwiddie -9
Pablo Larrazabal -8
Walmart NW Arkansas Championship
LPGA Tour
Lydia Ko has been a golf fantasy beast over the last year and she rose to the occasion again on Sunday. She entered the final round of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship with the lead and never looked back as she clinched her third LPGA Tour victory of the year and first since she won the Kia Classic and ANA Inspiration back-to-back in late March. The 19-year-old hit four birdies on the first five holes of the final round to open a four-shot lead and closed with a three-under 68 to finish with a tournament-record 17-under score and a three-stroke victory. The youngest two-time major winner in LPGA Tour history seemed overdue for a win after settling for a runner-up finish at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship after a playoff loss to Brooke Henderson and then tying for fourth at the Meijer LPGA Classic last week and she certainly delivered. Meanwhile, Candie Kung and Morgan Pressel finished tied for second at 14-under followed by Angel Stanford, Moriya Jutanugarn , Sandra Gal and Jing Yan at 13-under.
Top 10 Scores From The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship
Lydia Ko -17
Candi Kung -14
Morgan Pressel -14
Angela Stanford -13
Moriya Jutanugarn -13
Sandra Gal -13
Jing Yan -13
Sydnee Michaels -12
Minjee Lee -12
Sun Young Yoo -12
