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Graeme McDowell closed with two consecutive bogeys to miss out at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic as Joel Dahmen took his first PGA Tour win with a round of 70 to finish at 12 under par.
McDowell – who won this title in 2019 – was at 12 under with two to play before making bogeys at the 17th and 18th to sign for a round of 69 and a total of 10 under.
Dahmen came into the event off six missed cuts in his past seven starts but managed to captured his first title in his 111th start on the PGA Tour, finishing one shot ahead of Sam Ryder and Rafael Campos.
For McDowell, the finish was a disappointment but the 2010 US Open champion feels he is at least making good progress.
“Bogey-bogey today was very disappointing, but they’ve actually been very good to us this week, those holes,” McDowell said.
“I played 17 two under until today and it certainly didn’t owe me very much, let’s put it that way.
“But I just kind of lost my ball flight a little bit coming in there today. It’s been such a difficult week, just strong breeze every day and you have to really, really control your iron shots well. They just kind of let me down at the last minute.
“It’s great to feel disappointed with a top 10 because it’s been a really, really rough three months this year. It’s actually been a rough stretch since last June, since we came back after the break. I really haven’t played the type of golf I know I’m capable of.
“It’s been a tough run and this is really a light at the end of the tunnel this week, so it’s really important that I sort of frame this up the right way. This is massive progress.
“You could look at those two bogeys and if you focus on those, all you see is disappointment, but I have to focus on the bigger picture, which is I’m back playing the kind of golf I know I can play.
“I’m going to San Antonio next week with a chance to compete in the golf tournament, which is what I believe I’m capable of.”
Séamus Power signed off with a round of 73 to finish in a tie for 54th at two over while Pádraig Harrington was one shot worse off for the tournament after also carding a 73.
Meanwhile, Colin Montgomerie hit out at the “ridiculous” pace of play as Billy Horschel defeated Scottie Scheffler to win the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
In the third consecutive all-American final, Horschel recovered from an early deficit to beat Scheffler 2&1 in the final at Austin Country Club and secure the title.
The 34-year-old had earlier beaten France’s Victor Perez 3&2 in the semi-finals before Scheffler beat Matt Kuchar by one hole in a match which took four hours and eight minutes to complete in windy conditions.
The glacial pace of play was criticised by Sky Sports commentator Ewen Murray and eight-time European number one Montgomerie wrote on Twitter: “100% agree. Pace of play ridiculous.
“No one in front of them. Green reading books, lining up the lines on the ball. Really annoying me. And Matchplay is the fastest form of golf. Something has to be done #slowplay.”
In response to an image of both players and their caddies consulting their yardage books, Montgomerie added: “All four have their yardage books out. They’ve played the hole with practice 9 times this week. Stood there for two minutes doing nothing! Slow play needs to be penalised SkySportsGolf ewenmurray77 #slowplayruiningthegame.”
Scheffler, who had plenty of crowd support as a native Texan, drew first blood in the final when Horschel bogeyed the second hole after pulling his drive into a ravine.
Horschel got back on level terms in style by chipping in for a birdie on the fifth and looked set to win the next following a wild drive by his opponent.
However, after taking a penalty drop away from a fence, Scheffler scrambled a par five and Horschel was unable to make a winning birdie after a poor approach.
A par was enough for Horschel to win the seventh and move into the lead for the first time and another par on the ninth doubled his lead after Scheffler three-putted from 95 feet.
Horschel looked certain to extend his lead when Scheffler pulled his approach to the par-five 12th into the water, only to contrive to take six after hitting his third shot into a greenside bunker.
But Scheffler then squandered a golden opportunity to halve his deficit by missing from four feet for birdie to win the 14th.
Scheffler also had the chance to keep the match alive on the 17th but missed from 10 feet for birdie and Horschel could celebrate winning a first World Golf Championships title.
“It was one of those days where I didn’t play very good, I didn’t feel very good with my swing so I just grinded it out,” Horschel said.
“I wish I would have hit it better so I would have had closer chances to make birdies but I had two opponents that just didn’t make any putts and I did and that’s the difference today.”
In the third/fourth place play-off Kuchar held off a fightback from Perez to win 2&1.
On the LPGA Tour, Inbee Park carded a two-under 70 on the final day to secure victory by five strokes at the Kia Classic in California.
The South Korean had three birdies and the same number of bogeys at the Aviara Golf Club but managed to get two strokes back with a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-four 16th, with Park finishing at 14-under 274.
Ireland’s Leona Maguire finished with a round of 74 to tie for 56th while Stephanie Meadow was in a tie for 66th after a closing 76.
Collated final scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, Corales Golf Club, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (USA unless stated, Par 72):
276 Joel Dahmen 67 71 68 70
277 Rafael Campos (Pur) 68 69 69 71, Sam Ryder 68 72 70 67
278 Michael Gligic (Can) 73 66 68 71, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 70 69 70 69
279 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 70 73 65 71, Hudson Swafford 70 71 68 70
280 Danny Willett (Eng) 70 70 67 73
281 Brice Garnett 70 72 71 68, Ben Martin 71 70 71 69, Greyson Sigg 72 70 70 69, Sepp Straka (Aut) 72 68 69 72
282 Joseph Bramlett 69 73 72 68, Thomas Detry (Bel) 70 70 72 70, Chesson Hadley 70 70 73 69, David Hearn (Can) 72 72 72 66, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 69 70 69 74
283 Roberto Castro 70 69 70 74, Tyler McCumber 72 69 73 69, Chase Seiffert 73 71 71 68, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 73 70 72 68
284 Eric Cole 72 70 69 73, Roger Sloan (Can) 71 70 70 73, Alex Smalley 73 69 69 73, Peter Uihlein 70 70 73 71, Andrew Yun 67 72 75 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 69 68 72 75
285 Bronson Burgoon 70 72 71 72, Charles Howell III 70 71 73 71, Nate Lashley 68 75 72 70, David Lingmerth (Swe) 73 72 74 66, Justin Suh 68 69 77 71, Vincent Whaley 71 74 70 70
286 Ryan Brehm 73 71 73 69, Sebastian Cappelen (Den) 69 73 70 74, Will Gordon 72 71 68 75, Charley Hoffman 69 72 68 77, Troy Merritt 72 69 70 75, Taylor Pendrith (Can) 71 73 72 70, Wes Roach 70 73 69 74, Josh Teater 73 72 74 67, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 71 69 70 76
287 Mark Anderson 68 72 73 74, Scott Brown 74 70 74 69, Alex Cejka (Ger) 70 71 78 68, Patrick Rodgers 71 71 71 74, Robby Shelton 73 72 73 69
288 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 70 70 74 74, Tyler Duncan 69 69 74 76, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 66 73 75 74, Pat Perez 72 70 69 77
289 Richard S. Johnson (Swe) 72 69 74 74, D. J. Trahan 70 73 74 72
290 Séamus Power (Irl) 72 72 73 73, Ben Taylor (Eng) 71 73 72 74
291 Fabian Gomez (Arg) 69 74 77 71, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71 74 71 75, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 69 75 74 73, Tom Lewis (Eng) 70 74 75 72, Adam Schenk 68 73 74 76, Martin Trainer 71 70 75 75, Bo Van Pelt 71 72 74 74
292 Jonathan Byrd 69 76 77 70, Rhein Gibson (Aus) 70 75 75 72, Scott Harrington 75 70 72 75, Lee Hodges 72 73 74 73
293 Sang-Moon Bae (Kor) 70 75 74 74, J. J. Spaun 70 75 72 76
295 Grayson Murray 71 72 77 75, Brian Stuard 71 72 75 77
302 Parker McLachlin 71 74 80 77