Wood edges out Karlberg for title

England’s Chris Wood came from three shots back to win the European PGA Championship at Wentworth yesterday. The 28-year-old shot a final round 69 to give him a nine-under-par total of 279 and a one-shot win over Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg, who stormed through the pack with a 65.
Masters champion Danny Willett was third after a 71 and two Frenchmen, Julien Quesne and Romain Wattel, joined South Africa’s Thomas Aiken in a tie for fourth.
This was Wood’s third win on the European Tour, after victories in Qatar in 2013 and Austria in 2015, and puts him in contention for a spot in Darren Clarke’s European Ryder Cup team for the match against the United States at Hazeltine in September.
His score was built on the front nine which he covered in a tournament record-equalling 29 shots and at one point he led by four shots. But he wobbled on the back nine, making bogeys at the 10th, 14th, 16th and the par-five 17th when he took four to get on the green, and came back in 40.
That cut his advantage to one over Karlberg but he made a solid par five at the last and landed the biggest title of his career when he holed from three feet.
Overnight leader Scott Hend of Australia had a nightmare start, going out in 41 shots, before dropping three more on the 10th and 11th to finish in a tie for 15th.
South Korea’s YE Yang, who was out in the penultimate group, faded with a second successive 75 to finish 12th, while Englishman Tyrell Hatton, who was in the final group, signed for a 75 and seventh spot.
Karlberg, who was eight shots of the pace after 54 holes, went to the turn in 30, five under par, with his round being kick-started by a hole-in-one at the 154-yard, par-three second, as he fired a closing seven-under-par 65 to finish on eight under.
The Swede had bogeyed the first but when his nine-iron found the cup it sparked a run of four birdies in seven holes before the turn and a two at the 10th, followed by a birdie at the par-five 12th, before the birdies dried up.
Karlberg looked to be a couple of shots light but Wood’s near-collapse gave him hope until the Englishman held his nerve at the last. Luke Donald, winner in 2011 and 2012, faded after his opening 68 with a last round 71 leaving him one under, level with Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell.
Defending champion Byeong-Hun An finished in a tie for 33rd place on level par.

Spieth leads by one stroke
Jordan Spieth charged into the lead despite a stumble at the final hole of the third round at the Colonial tournament in Texas on Saturday. The world number two hit an errant tee shot in the left rough at the par-four 18th and made bogey for a five-under-par 65 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. He posted a 12-under 198 total for a one-shot lead over fellow Americans Ryan Palmer (66) and Webb Simpson (67).
Spieth hopes to win for the eighth time on the PGA Tour, first time in his home state of Texas and first time since his back-nine collapse at the Masters last month.
“I feel really good about my game, all parts of it,” Spieth told reporters. “I’m going to need to stick to the basics, especially my posture, and be really disciplined with my set-up and alignment and then make confident swings, knowing we’ve hit good shots all week. Hopefully, the putter stays hot as well.”
In his six-birdie round, Spieth hit only four fairways but scrambled with a solid short game, including a chip-in birdie from 30 feet at the 11th.
Palmer, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, most recently in 2010, birdied four of the final 10 holes to close in on Spieth. Palmer is a Colonial member and a good friend of Spieth’s. The two often play practice rounds together and will be paired in the final round.
“It will be a fun dynamic,” Spieth said. “It will be cool because as a member he’ll have a ton of support and we’ve had tons of support all week.”
Americans Harris English (64), Kyle Reifers (67) and Martin Piller (68) were tied for fourth, two shots behind Spieth.

Closing eagle keeps Ariya ahead
Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn eagled the 18th hole and clung to a one-stroke lead over Americans Jessica Korda and Christina Kim after Saturday’s third round of the LPGA Volvik Championship.
Ariya, trying to win her third consecutive event, struggled to a one-over-par 73 but her final shot lofted her to the lead at 10-under 206 at windy Ann Arbor, Michigan. “To me it was very hard today because (it was) very windy and the greens very, very firm,” Ariya said.
The 20-year-old from Bangkok became the first Thai player to win an LPGA title by taking the Yokohama Tire Classic in Alabama earlier this month and added the Kingsmill Championship last week. A victory this week would make Ariya the first LPGA player to win three events in a row since South Korean Park In-Bee in 2013.
Korda, the 23-year-old daughter of former ATP standout Petr Korda, fired a 70 while Kim shot 72, each making a birdie at the par-5 18th to finish on 207. Norway’s Suzann Pettersen and South Korean Kim Hyo-Joo shared fourth on 209 with Spain’s Belen Mozo, American Marina Alex and South Korean Ryu So-Yeon another stroke adrift.
Ariya, who opened with two bogey-free rounds, led by two shots when the day began but stumbled early with bogeys at the par-3 third and par-5 fourth, another to close the front nine and a bogey at 13.