Roundup: Garcia wins in Vietnam, Leishman takes Sun City in South Africa
Sergio Garcia won his first tournament in two years on Sunday, taking the Asian Tour’s inaugural Ho Tram Open in a four-man, sudden-death playoff.
Garcia finished on 14-under 270 along with Wen-tang Lin, Himmat Rai and Thaworn Wiratchant. The Spaniard made a double bogey on the 71st hole of the tournament, relinquishing a two-shot lead, but a par at the last got him to extra holes.
On the first hole of the playoff at The Bluffs Ho Tram Strip, Garcia and Rai made birdies to match, eliminating Thaworn and Lin. A hole later, Rai’s tee shot found bushes, while Garcia made a simple par to earn the victory.
“Winning is never easy. I was fortunate and you have to be lucky to win,” said Garcia, who earned his first win since the 2014 Qatar Masters. “I was fortunate to get a second chance after I pretty much gave it away. I’m very happy as I haven’t won in a while.
Thomas Bjorn finished a shot out of the playoff at 13 under par.
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Marc Leishman won one of two European Tour-sanctioned events on Sunday, taking the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Gary Player Country Club in South Africa.
The Aussie shot 5-under 67 on Sunday, pulling away from Swede Henrik Stenson, whose even-par 72 left him six shots behind the winner. Leishman’s 19-under 269 total earned him $1.28 million.
Chris Wood finished alone in third in the 30-man field at 9 under par.
For Stenson, this is his sixth worldwide second-place finish in 2015. His season ends without a win, as he goes under the knife next week for a knee procedure.
As for Leishman, this is a good moment in what has been a very tough year. Leishman’s wife, Audrey, nearly died earlier this year in a battle with acute respiratory distress syndrome and toxic shock syndrome. She is recovering now, some eight months later, but Leishman is hoping this win is a sign of a more memorable 2016.
“I’m pretty happy to have this year over, to be honest,” he said. “Audrey got very sick and I lost an uncle who I was very close to. This tops off what was otherwise not a great year.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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