Jason Day made himself right at home in the RBC Canadian Open — at David Hearn’s expense.
The Australian birdied the final three holes to win the national championship on Sunday at the Glen Abbey Golf Course, spoiling Hearn’s bid to become the first Canadian winner in 61 years.
“I’ve never felt so much at home, and I’m not even from Canada,” Day said. “I’m looking forward to coming back and defending the title here next year, because I know that when I get here next year, it’s going to be the same. It’s great to feel like a Canadian for a week.”
Photo: AFP
Day made a 20-foot putt on the par-five 18th for a four-under 68 and a one-stroke victory over Bubba Watson. Hearn, two strokes ahead of Day and Watson entering the round, had a 72 to finish third — two strokes back.
“I’m real proud of the way I played and I’m really proud to be Canadian today,” Hearn said. “It was a pretty special day with all of the fans and the support that I had from beginning to finish.”
Pat Fletcher, born in England, was the last Canadian winner in 1954 at Point Grey in Vancouver, British Columbia. Carl Keffer is the only Canadian-born champion, winning in 1909 and 1914. Albert Murray, a Canadian also born in England, won in 1908 and 1913.
“It was one focused mindset the whole day today to do something really special and win the tournament,” said Hearn, who is from Brantford, Ontario — also hockey great Wayne Gretzky’s hometown. “It hasn’t been done in a long time, and I felt like I had the ability to do it today. I gave it my all. I didn’t quite have my best game.”
“It’s a matter of time,” fourth-place Jim Furyk said. “There are so many good Canadian players. I feel bad Mike Weir never won this golf tournament, but Graham DeLaet, David, there are a bunch of fine young players, so I’m sure it’s going to happen.”
Day was coming off a fourth-place tie in The Open at St Andrews last week. The 28-year-old Australian also fought through vertigo symptoms last month to tie for ninth in the US Open. He has four PGA Tour victories, also winning at Torrey Pines Golf Course in February.
“This must feel like what Tiger [Woods] did for so many times, and it feels good,” Day said. “I’m going to try to do as much as I can and keep it the same and try and win.”
Day birdied three of the first seven holes, but dropped strokes on eight and nine. Playing a group ahead of Watson and Hearn, Day parred the first six holes on the back nine, then birdied the par-five 16th and par-four 17th and stretched his lead to two with the downhill birdie putt on 18. He finished at 17-under 271.
Watson had a chance to force a playoff, but missed an eagle chip on 18 and settled for his fourth straight birdie and a 69.
Hearn birdied the first two holes, but gave back the strokes with bogeys on three and seventh. He also bogeyed the par-three 12th, birdied the par-five 13th and closed with five pars.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB