GOLF ROUNDUP

McKINNEY, Texas — Scottie Scheffler matched the PGA Tour’s 72-hole scoring record on Sunday, finishing at 253 and running away with an eight-shot victory at his hometown CJ Cup Byron Nelson.

The top-ranked player, who closed with a 63 to finish at 31 under par, tied the mark set by Justin Thomas at the 2017 Sony Open and equaled six years later by Ludvig Aberg at the RSM Classic.

Scheffler was in position to break the record before a flubbed chip that led to bogey on the par-3 17th hole and a par from a greenside bunker on the par-5 closing hole. His 8-foot putt for birdie and the record slid by the left side of the hole.

Hideki Matsuyama has the lowest score in relation to par this season, 35 under on the par-73 Plantation Course at Kapalua.

Scheffler tied the 54-hole Nelson record with an eight-shot lead, and nobody got closer than six during the final round. Erik van Rooyen of South Africa matched Scheffler’s 63 to finish at 23 under, three shots ahead of Sam Stevens and four ahead of another hometown favorite, Jordan Spieth.

Scheffler and Spieth finished with the two lowest rounds of the tournament. Scheffler opened with a 10-under 61 on Thursday at the defenseless par-71 TPC Craig Ranch in a suburban community about 30 miles north of Dallas.

Spieth shot 62 in the final round, surging to finish fourth while watching his friend and fellow Texas alum become the first of the pair to win the event they both cherish.

It was the first victory this year for Scheffler after he won a total of 10 times before May in the previous three years combined, including two Masters victories. The 28-year-old Dallas resident has 14 career victories.

Scheffler’s previous best Nelson finish was a tie for fifth two years ago. He missed last year’s event for the birth of his first child. He cradled his year-old son, Bennett, after becoming the first wire-to-wire Nelson winner since Tom Watson 45 years ago.

Scheffler shattered the previous Nelson scoring record of 259 set by Steven Bowditch in 2015. That tournament was played at the TPC Four Seasons. Normally a par 70, that course had a par-69 layout the final three days when heavy rain forced officials to convert a par 4 into a par 3. Bowditch finished 18 under.

Scheffler’s victory margin was the second-largest at the Nelson behind Sam Snead’s 10-shot win in 1957, when it was known as the Dallas Open Invitational.

Because of heavy rain Wednesday and Friday, players were allowed to lift, clean and replace their golf balls in the fairway for the first three rounds, but not in the final round.

Aberg had so-called preferred lies during the first rounds at the 2023 RSM Classic. Sunday’s weather at the Nelson was perfect, with highs in the mid-70s and little wind.

Ryu pulls away for LPGA victory

IVINS, Utah — Haeran Ryu made an 8-foot eagle putt during a flawless back nine that allowed her to pull away Sunday with an 8-under 64, giving her a five-shot victory at the inaugural Black Desert Championship in the LPGA Tour’s return to Utah after a 61-year absence.

Ryu became the second player to go wire-to-wire on the LPGA Tour this year, and it was her second time winning a new event. She won the FM Championship at the TPC Boston last year.

She was coming off a rough finish at the Chevron Championship last week, sharing the 54-hole lead at the first major of the year until closing with a 76.

This one was closer than the five-shot margin indicated. Ryu was clinging to a one-shot lead over Esther Henseleit of Germany going to the back nine. She missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the 10th — her third straight miss from short range for birdie.

But then she made a 15-foot birdie putt at the 11th, and her eagle at the 13th put her ahead by four shots.

“Incredible day,” said Ryu, who now has won in each of the last seven years dating to her first win as an 18-year-old on the Korea LPGA.

Henseleit, who started three shots behind, went out in 31 to get within one shot. She cooled on the back nine, not making another birdie until the 18th hole for a 66. She tied for second with Ruoning Yin (67), the final challenge to Ryu.

DeChambeau win LIV Golf Korea

INCHEON, South Korea — Bryson DeChambeau held off a big charge from Charles Howell III with birdies on his last two holes for a 6-under 66 on Sunday for a two-shot victory at LIV Golf Korea, his first title since winning the U.S. Open last summer.

DeChambeau, who played in the final group at the Masters and lost a 36-hole lead at LIV Golf Mexico City last week, started the third and final round at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club with a four-shot lead and was even par for the round through nine holes.

Howell, his Crushers teammate, closed with a 63. They were tied until Howell made a bogey on the 16th hole, and DeChambeau rolled in a long birdie putt at the 17th for a two-shot cushion going to the par-5 18th. They both birdied.

DeChambeau finished at 19-under 197 and won $4 million for his first LIV Golf League title since September 2023 and his third overall.

Crushers won the team title by nine shots over Smash.

DeChambeau next joins what likely will be 13 other players from LIV Golf in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club on May 15-18. DeChambeau was runner-up to Xander Schauffele in the PGA Championship last year.