PGA Tour: Akshay Bhatia Finishes Tied-16th As Theegala Is T-25 And Fitzpatrick Wins Title

PGA Tour: Akshay Bhatia finishes tied-16th as Theegala is T-25 and Fitzpatrick wins title (Image Source: IANS)

Harbour Town Links: Akshay Bhatia and Sahith Theegala played under par rounds to finish in Top-25 at the RBC Heritage on the golf tournament on the PGA Tour. While Bhatia moved up to T-16, nine places from his overnight position of T-25, Theegala moved to T-25, up from his overnight position of T-41. Another Indian origin player, Sudarshan Yellamaraju (68), finished T-53.

Matt Fitzpatrick (70) held off World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (67) in regulation play as the latter rallied from his three-shot deficit to force a playoff at Harbour Town Links. Both finished at 18-under.

In the play-off, Fitzpatrick, 31, stunned the pro-Scheffler crowd with a 4-iron from 204 yards, a little more left than he intended but very good. It rolled past the pin and stopped 13 feet away for a birdie. Fitzpatrick holed it to beat Scheffler and win the RBC Heritage for the second time.

The victory, his fourth on the PGA TOUR and 13th worldwide, moves him to a career-high No. 3 in the world ranking.

Fitzpatrick won for the second time in the last month. After his runner-up finish at THE PLAYERS, he won the Valspar Championship. He has won nearly $8.3 million in his last four tournaments.

The playoff was almost a repeat of the previous time when Fitzpatrick defeated another American favourite, Jordan Spieth, in a playoff at the RBC Heritage three years ago. This time, the closing hole was a brute, the toughest at Harbour Town.

Scheffler, trailing by three shots with four holes to play, forced a playoff with a pair of late birdies for a 4-under 67 and some help from Fitzpatrick, who hit a poor chip from right of the green and missed a 20-foot par putt for his only bogey of the day and a 70.

Scheffler followed with his worst swing of the day, a 6-iron that came up 37 yards short of the hole. He hit a superb pitch to 8 feet, but never had to putt when Fitzpatrick made the winning putt.

Scheffler, trailing by three shots with four holes to play, forced a playoff with a pair of late birdies for a 4-under 67 and some help from Fitzpatrick, who hit a poor chip from right of the green and missed a 20-foot par putt for his only bogey of the day and a 70.

As both finished at 18-under 268, Kim closed with a 68 to finish alone in third, his fourth top 10 of the year.

Article Source: IANS