SPIETH WINS PLAY-OFF AT 3rd EXTRA 

HOLE AGAINST O'HAIR AND REED

Jordan Spieth, 21. chalked up his second US PGA Tour win by coming out on top in a three-way play-off against fellow Americans Patrick Reid and Sean O'Hair in an exciting climax to this weekend's US PGA Tour event, the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort, Palm Harbour, Florida.
The first two play-off holes were halved in pars. The third extra hole was a par 3 ... won by Spieth by holing a 28ft birdie putt. His cash prize was in excess of one million dollars. 
Reed, O'Hair and Spieth tied on 10-under-par 274 at the end of the regulation 72 holes, Reed finishing with a 66, O'Hair a 69 and Spieth a 69.
Sweden's Henrik Stenson finishd fourth on 275 after a closing 67.
Third-round leader Ryan Moore had a one-over-par 72 in his final round and dropped down to fifth place on 276.
Russell Knox (69-71-70-73) and Martin Laird (69-72-74-68) tied for 33rd place on one-under 283.
For much of the day, it looked like Ryan Moore’s tournament – especially when he holed a 7-iron from 162 yards at the sixth hole for eagle. When Moore birdied the 12th, his second in a row, he led by three strokes, and yet he didn’t even make the three-man play-off. Moore finished with a 72 and became the eighth straight 54-hole leader to come up short on Sunday.
Spieth counter-punched down the stretch behind a hot putter, beginning with a birdie at 13 to pull within a stroke of Moore.
“All I needed was to see one go in, I could start seeing the line,” Spieth said. “The hole looked a little bigger.”
One hole later, Spieth rolled in his first haymaker, a 32ft putt to tie for the lead. His celebration was more of a roundhouse than a Tiger Woods-esque uppercut, but it sent the crowd into a frenzy.
A few holes later, Spieth stood on the 16th tee when he heard a roar from 18. He had a feeling it might be Reed. Shortly before Reed teed off two groups ahead of the leaders, Spieth chatted with Reed and said, “Play well today.” He paused before finishing, “Just not too well.”
But Reed did play well, very well, shooting a bogey-free 66 and sinking a 31ft birdie putt at 18 to ensure a place in the play-off.
O’Hair, 32, was without a top-10 finish in nearly a year and had slipped to No. 401 in the World. He posted 67 to become the old man in the playoff. 
Spieth needed his own heroics to join them, making world-class up-and-downs at Nos. 17 and 18.
At the par-3 17th, Spieth short-sided himself and required delicate touch from a dicey line.
“We were walking up and I said to Mike (his caddie), ‘Please be a good lie or not on a downslope,’ ” Spieth recalled.
So what type of lie did he have? “Just buried on the downslope,” he said. “Geez.”
Spieth made it look easy. Then at 18, he drove into the left fairway bunker, caught his 7-iron fat, and pitched over the bunker to 11 feet.
Spieth had to make the par putt to finish the tournament at 10 under and join the play-off. 
As player and caddie marched to the green, caddie Greller reminded Spieth that they had made a bigger putt on this same green two years ago. It was the putt that earned Spieth special temporary status on Tour and ignited his run to the Presidents Cup later that year.
“This is a lot less pressure than when you were fighting for your job,” Greller said.
Spieth grinned just as he would when his putt had just enough steam to drop. With his right fist, Spieth punched the air with ecstasy.
Reed, O’Hair and Spieth returned to 18 and at the first playoff hole, Spieth had a putt to win, but it slid by and one hole later at 16, O’Hair’s putt for the win lipped out. 
Meanwhile, Reed kept living to play another hole by showing off his spectacular short game.
“I didn’t like him still in the playoff,” joked Spieth, who lost to Reed in extra holes at the 2013 Wyndham Championship. “He was plugged in the lip (at 18) and we’re counting him out. You can’t count him out. He’s just a competitor. He‘s fiery.”
So is Spieth. Or as caddie Greller put it, “he’s stubborn.” Spieth knew it would take a birdie to win. As for the winning putt?
“That putt, that’s just luck, right?” Spieth said with a smile.
“There were so many unbelievable shots that you just shake your head,” Greller said.


LEADING FINAL TOTALS
par 284 (4x71) Players from USA unless stated
274 Patrick Reed 72 68 68 66, Sean O'Hair 66 72 69 67, Jordan Spieth 70 68 68 69
275 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 67 70 71 67
276 Ryan Moore 69 68 67 72
278 Troy Merritt 72 69 71 66
279 Danny Lee (NZ) 72 69 71 67, Jason Kokrak 68 73 70 68, Luke Guthrie 68 73 70 68

SELECTED TOTALS 
280 Brian Davis (England) 65 76 70 69 (T10)
281 Lee Westwood (England) 71 70 71 69 (T17)
282 Ian Poulter (England) 68 70 75 69 (T24)
283 Russell Knox (Scotland) 69 71 70 73, Martin Laird (Scotland) 69 72 74 68 (T33).
287 Luke Donald 72 68 73 74 (T53) 

TO VIEW ALL THE FINAL TOTALS

CLICK HERE

CRAIG LEE TIES FOR THIRD IN S AFRICA

AFTER DOUBLE BOGEY AT LAST HOLE 

Craig Lee, pictured above by courtesy of Getty Images(c), finished in a three-way tie for third place in the Tshwane Open at Pretoria Country Club, South Africa.
The Stirling man earned 79,800 euros for rounds of 67, 68, 66 and 70 for nine-under-par 271

Lee was just one off the lead when he carded his fourth birdie of the day on the 14th, but bogeyed the next and then took a double bogey on the last to drop back to nine under alongside South African pair Dean Burmester and Tjaart van der Walt. 

Lee would not have won had he parred the 15th and 18th but he would have finished third on his own, a shot behind the runner-up.

Lee was the only Brit among four South Africans in the top five finishers.
Scott Jamieson, the only other Scot to survive the cut, finished T35 on two-under 278 with rounds of 70, 69, 70 and 69. He earned 10,650 euros.

George Coetzee won with a closing round of 65 for 14-under 266.
Compatriot Jacques Blaauw set the clubhouse target of 266 with a brilliant last round of nine-under 61

 FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

George Coetzee returned to the scene of his first golfing triumph to claim the Tshwane Open at Pretoria Country Club.
South African Coetzee, 28, put home advantage to full use to win his second European Tour title, carding a flawless final round of 65 to finish one shot ahead of compatriot Jacques Blaauw at the course where he has been a member since taking up the game and where he won his first junior competition aged ten.

Blaauw had charged through the field with a stunning closing 61 to equal the course record and set the clubhouse target at 13 under par, with the final groups still having nine holes to play.
However, Coetzee - who was one of six players sharing the lead overnight - was just one behind after finishing his front nine with three birdies in four holes and picked up further shots on the back nine to seal victory.

The decisive moment came on the 17th after Coetzee had tried to drive the green on this short par four.
His tee shot came up in the trees short and right of the green but with a clear path between two bunkers the World Number 87 took full advantage, chipping to five feet and holing for a birdie to take a one-shot lead down the last.
“To win at your own club in front of all your friends and family – the crowds were amazing, I could just feel the momentum building and the crowd getting bigger and bigger towards the end. It’s a great experience and a very special day for me,” said Coetzee, whose previous European Tour win also came on home soil at last year’s Joburg Open.
All of Coetzee's seven wins as a professional have been achieved in his native South Africa. Non-South African players on the European Tour will be glad he doesn't get out more!

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
par 280 (4x70); players from S Africa unless stated
266 George Coetzee 67 66 68 65
267 Jacques Blaauw 72 65 69 61
271 Dean Burmester 65 68 71 67, Craig Lee (Scotland) 67 68 66 70, Tjaart Van Der Walt 69 69 66 67
272 Jack Ahers 69 67 70 66, Adrian Otaegui (Spain) 67 62 72 71
273 Gregory Bourdy (France) 70 67 70 66, Robert Rock (England) 69 70 66 68

SELECTED TOTAL
278 Scott Jamieson (Scotland) 70- 69 70 69 (T35)

TO ACCESS THE SCORE SERVICE

CLICK HERE 

US PGA Tour report and third-round scores

RUSSELL KNOX T10, SIX OFF LEAD

IN VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIP

FROM ESPNSPORTS.COM
PALM HARBOR, Florida -- Ryan Moore had no trouble explaining how, after 12 consecutive pars to start the third round of the Valspar Championship, he birdied four of the final six holes Saturday.
"I just hit it closer," he said.
The result was a 4-under 67 that pushed Moore to a 54-hole total of 9-under 204 and a one-shot lead over Jordan Spieth on Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead course.
Spieth shot 68. Derek Ernst is another stroke back after a 69.
Russell Knox is the leading Brit in T10 position on 210 aftrer a third-round 70. Martin Laird is T53 on 215 after a 74.
The field was like a crowded freeway early before Moore finally opened up some space. When the final pairing of Brendon de Jonge and Spieth reached its fifth hole, they were part of an eight-way tie for the lead at 5 under. Another seven players were a shot back. Twenty-seven were within three.
While De Jonge, who led by one after 36 holes, shot 75 and fell off the pace, Moore, seeking his fifth career win, moved steadily along in the swirling wind until sprinting to the finish.
"Any day around this golf course with no bogeys is pretty good, especially the spots where I hit it," Moore said. "I was able to save par really low in the middle of my round, made some good putts but had some good chip shots. Was able to get it rolling there and make some birdies coming in."
The first birdie, coming on the 200-yard par-13th with a 6-iron to 8½ feet, was the springboard.
"It was not an easy par 3, especially with that wind," Moore said. "It was hard to figure out whether it was really helping or more across. Obviously, you don't want to get that wrong with water short, and with trouble long, you don't want to go long of that green.
"Stepped up and hit a great iron shot there, left myself nice 8-, 9-footer right below the hole, and knocking that in kind of got me going there on the backside."

CLICK ON THE NEXT LINE
Full leaderboard »

	Score
1. Ryan Moore	-9
2. Jordan Spieth	-8
3. Derek Ernst	-7
4. Sean O'Hair	-6
T-5. Patrick Reed	-5
T-5. Matt Kuchar	-5
T-5. Henrik Stenson	-5

Spieth was tied for the lead until Moore's birdie at 18. Spieth saved par at that hole with a one-putt from 6 feet.
"I got a lot of confidence at the end right there with my putter," Spieth said. "I had those 6-, 7- footers that, you know, when I'm close but not quite there, those are the ones that slide by the hole because I just kind of baby it a little bit and hit confident putts coming in. Hopefully, that does a lot of good for me tomorrow."
Nine players are within five shots, all aiming at Moore.
"Ryan has been obviously on his game for weeks now, and I've just been starting to trend up where I want to be," Spieth said. "We're both really right where we want to be this week.
"So with that being said, he's a great ball-striker. He hits it very straight and very disciplined and good putter. I expect him to shoot a few under tomorrow, and I'm going to have a really good round to win."

THIRD-ROUND LEADERBOARD
 par 213 (3x71)
Players from USA unless stated
204 Ryan Moore 69 68 67
205 Jordan Spieth 70 67 68
206 Derek Ernst 69 70 69
207 Sean O'Hair 66 72 69

SELECTED SCORES
208 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 67 70 71 (T5)
210 Russell Knox (Scotland) 69 71 70 (T10)
211 Brian Davis (England) 65 76 70 (T14)
212 Lee Westwood (England) 71 70 71 (T23)
213 Ian Poulter (England) 68 70 75, Luke Donald (England) 72 68 73 (T34)
215 Martin Laird (Scotland) 69 72 74 (T53)

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE