World number one Rory McIlroy has come from behind the win the US PGA Championship at Louisville Kentucky.
He becomes only the third player to have won four majors by the age of 25, alongside Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
In a wild Sunday where rain delayed play and five players held a share of the lead, McIlroy’s back nine saw him push through the field to regain a lead he’d lost in the early part of the day.
Ricky Fowler and Phil Mickelson held sway after 13 holes at 15-under-par with Henrik Stenson and McIlroy one shot back.
McIlroy then birdied 13 while Stenson and Mickelson carded bogeys on 14 and 16.
With darkness descending, Fowler and Mickelson birdied 18, but North Ireland’s McIlroy had two shots in hand and needed only a regulation two-putt on the final green to bag another major.
Australia’s Jason Day was just one shot off the lead early in the final round but was left to rue multiple short misses with his putter.
It was a front nine of crucial misses on the greens for Day as he missed three birdie putts inside 11 feet and also a four-foot par putt.
Combined with a butchered bogey on the par-five seventh the 26-year-old lost his grip on the Wanamaker trophy.
If not for making birdies on the fifth and eighth holes the Queenslander would be further out of contention.
Day has struggled with his putter all week and could have easily been comfortably in the driver’s seat had he been able to bury countless short chances.
He missed from 11 feet for birdie on the first and third holes and couldn’t knock in one from nine feet on the fourth hole before missing the short-par chance on the sixth.
Adam Scott’s dreams of making a big push died on the opening hole when he missed the fairway right and the green long, failing to get up and down and making bogey.
While he grabbed birdies on seven and eight he is still seven back at eight under through 16 holes.
Fellow Australians Matt Jones and Geoff Ogilvy finished up their tournament with a round of 71 to be one under for the week, while Marc Leishman (69) posted his first under-par round of the week to join his countrymen in a tie for 47th.
In women’s golf South Korea’s Lee Mi-Rim birdied the second playoff hole to beat former world No.1 Park In-Bee Sunday, winning her first LPGA title in the inaugural Meijer Classic.
The 23-year-old Lee fired a two-under par final-round 69 to finish tied with Park on 14-under par 270.
Park, who took a one-stroke lead into the final round, closed with a one-under 70.
Lee had four birdies and two bogeys in her round at Blythefield Country Club.
Park got off to a quick start, with birdies at the first and third, but wouldn’t find another birdie the rest of the way and gave a shot back with a bogey at 14. Lee, who earned her first career win on the LPGA Tour, carded a 2-under 69 during her final round at 14.
Norway’s Suzann Pettersen finished in third place after a 69 for 271.
Japan’s Haru Nomura closed with a 68 for 274 to finish alone in fourth.
Three players shared fifth place on nine-under 275: Germany’s Sandra Gal (66), South Korean Amy Yang (68) and Denmark’s Line Vedel (70).
Lee, whose previous best LPGA finish was a tie for second at the JTBC Founders Cup, became the fourth first-time winner on the tour this year along with New Zealand teenager Lydia Ko and Americans Lizette Salas and Mo Martin.
She’s the first player to capture her first LPGA title in a playoff since Yang in the 2013 HanaBank Championship.
