Ryan Fox claimed another top 10 finish. Photo / Getty
Ryan Fox claimed another top 10 finish. Photo / Getty
Ryan Fox claimed his sixth top-10 finish in his last nine starts on the DP World Tour but wasn't able to keep up with the leaders on the final day of the BMW International Open in Munich.
The Kiwi golfer shot a five-under 67 – including four birdies, an eagle and a bogey – to finish in third place on 20 under, two shots behind Li Haotong and Thomas Pieters who battled it out for the title in a playoff.
Less than a year after he nearly retired from golf, Li achieved his third career European tour win and first since 2018.
Li sank to the ground with loud exclamations of joy and relief after beating Thomas Pieters with a 40-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole. It was a huge turnaround from 2021, when he only made the cut at two European tour events all year and considered leaving the sport behind.
Ryan Fox claimed another top 10 finish. Photo / Getty
"Ten months ago ... I just literally decided to quit golf. Somehow, where I am now, it's hard to describe," Li said. "I had no idea I could win this playoff. Luckily, things happened for me again."
Li had led the tournament since a course record-equaling round of 10-under 62 on the opening day. However, his two-under 70 on the final day was his worst of the tournament and Li looked like he might have blown his chance when a bogey on the 15th left him in a three-way tie with Pieters and Fox.
A symbol of Li's struggles was the par-five No 6, where he had bogey after eagles in his previous three rounds.
Li recovered with birdies on the 16th and 17th but missed a birdie putt which could have won the tournament on the final hole. Li then won a playoff for the first time in his career with a birdie as Pieters failed to sink a 10-foot putt.
The tournament took place amid simmering tension over players signing with the breakaway Saudi-backed Liv series.
Unlike the PGA Tour, the European tour stopped short of issuing indefinite suspensions from all its competitions even if players took part in the lucrative inaugural Liv tournament in England this month, but it did issue fines on Friday and suspended them from three tournaments co-sanctioned with the PGA, including the Scottish Open.
Ten golfers who played the first Liv event were in the field in Munich, with Pablo Larrazábal the best performer, finishing five strokes off the lead, and Louis Oosthuizen one stroke further back.
Two-time major winner Martin Kaymer played this week and said the European tour's warning of future punishment for golfers who continue with Liv won't stop him playing more Saudi-run tournaments.
"I'll play all of the LIV tournaments until the end of the year and let's see how the sanctions look again after that," Kaymer said in comments reported by Germany's dpa agency. "You don't like to get some kind of sanctions each week because you've played a tournament somewhere else."
Ko struggles as In Gee Chun wins Women's PGA Championship
Lydia Ko in action during the final day of the Women's PGA Championship. Photo / AP
Lydia Ko had a day to forget at the final round of the Women's PGA Championship.
Ko struggled to a six-over 79 – a fourth day consisting of a double bogey, six bogeys and just one birdie – to finish 11 shots behind winner In Gee Chun in a tie for 46th.
Chun rallied after losing the rest of her once-sizeable lead, overcoming a bogey-filled front nine to win when Lexi Thompson faltered with her putter. She shot a three-over 75 for the second consecutive day at Congressional, but that was enough to win her third major title by a stroke over Thompson and Minjee Lee.
Chun, after leading by six at the tournament's midway point, lost a three-shot advantage in the first three holes of the final round. Thompson was two strokes ahead of her after the front nine, but her putting problems were just beginning.
The 27-year-old Floridian botched a par putt from a couple feet on No 14, but a birdie on 15 restored her lead to two. Then she bogeyed the par-5 16th while Chun made birdie, leaving the two players tied with two holes remaining.
Thompson three-putted for bogey on 17, and after an impressive approach from the rough on 18, her birdie putt wasn't hit firmly enough.
Chun's approach on the par-4 18th bounced past the hole and just off the back of the green, but she putted to within about five feet and sank her par attempt to win the tournament.
Chun, a 27-year-old from South Korea, led by seven strokes after finishing her first round in wet conditions on Friday. The lead was down to five at the end of that day — still equaling the largest 18-hole advantage in the history of women's majors.
She was six strokes ahead at the halfway point and had a three-stroke advantage coming into the last day. She finished at five-under 283.
Chun won her first major at the US Women's Open in 2015 and added the Evian Championship in France the following year.
On the Champions Tour, Kiwi Steven Alker failed to fire on the final day of the US Senior Open to finish in a tie for 11th.
Alker couldn't replicate his hot form this year by shooting a two-over on his fourth round.
Pádraig Harrington of Ireland claimed the title with a one-over 72 after starting the day with a five-shot lead, holding off American Steve Stricker who went low with a six-under to finish a shot behind.
