Sporting success and failure is often decided by the slimmest of margins, and while there was disappointment for Pádraig Harrington in Dubai, Stephanie Meadow retained her LPGA Tour status with nothing to spare in Florida.
Only the top 100 in the Race to CME Globe standings kept their cards after last night’s Pelican Women’s Championship in Tampa and they included 29-year old from Meadow, who moved from 101st to 100th and avoided a trip to the Q-Series when she recovered from a double-bogey six at her 11th hole and carded a level-par 70 to tie for 47th on four-under-par.
It was a disappointing day for Leona Maguire, who had high hopes of a maiden win after an opening 62 but followed a brace of 68s by taking 34 putts in a five-over 75 to finish tied 28th on seven-under-par.
The Co Cavan rookie still made the top 60 in the points list who contest this week’s season-ending $5 million CME Group Tour Championship in 17th place, but she finished 10 strokes behind winner Nelly Korda.
The world No 1 looked to have thrown the title away when she triple bogeyed the 17th to fall a shot behind playing partner Lexi Thompson.
But as Thompson bogeyed the last, the world No 1 and Olympic champion made birdie to shoot 69 and force a four-way playoff with Thompson (69), Lydia Ko (66) and Sei Young Kim (67) on 17-under, then birdied it again in sudden death to win for fifth title of the year.
As for Harrington, the 50-year old agonisingly missed out on a place in this week’s DP World Tour Championship after Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond drained a 45 footer for eagle on the 18th in the Aviv Dubai Championship.
The Dubliner bunkered his approach to the 18th but splashed out to 18 feet and then made the birdie putt to briefly move up to tied fifth on 19-under.
His bogey-free 67 propelled him provisionally from 56th to 53rd in the Race to Dubai with the top 54 set to play the final event following a series of high profile withdrawals.
But his hopes of playing in the season-ending event for the first time since 2016 were dashed minutes later when Janewattananond’s eagle relegated him to a five-way tie for eighth, four strokes behind winner Joachim B Hansen of Denmark.
As a result, Harrington fell one spot overall from 56th to 57th in the Race to Dubai.
“The putt on the last gave me great comfort because I really really struggled all day on the greens,” a disappointed Harrington explained.
“I was very tentative. I was really struggling. But the putt on the last, because I really had to hole it, I got into it and holed it.
“I wish I could hit all putts like that. I need that sort of pressure. Do or die makes it a lot easier, but it’s disappointing.
“When I finished and I was fifth, it looked like I maybe had a chance. But it was just a step too far.”
With 11th-ranked Will Zalatoris not counting towards the Race to Dubai as an affiliate member and world No 1 Jon Rahm, Norway’s Viktor Hovland, and England’s Justin Rose opting not to travel to Dubai for the final event, the top 54 in the season-long points list will tee it up on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates with Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry the only Irish qualifiers.
“What’s good is I could see where I am going wrong,” added Harrington, who will round off the season in the PNC Championship on the PGA Tour Champions in Orlando from December 17th-19th.
“The last couple of weeks have been an eye-opener. Even the Ryder Cup was an eye-opener. I could see in my own game what I need to do. I could see what’s lacking and I know how to fix it. Whether I do it or not is up to me.”
As Hansen closed with a bogey-free 68 to win his second European Tour title by a shot from Italian Francesco Laporta (69) and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger (65) on 23-under, Clandeboye’s Jonathan Caldwell finished 94th in the Race to Dubai after a closing 68 left him tied 55th on 11-under .
Meanwhile, Jason Kokrak claimed his third PGA Tour win and denied US Ryder Cup star Scottie Scheffler his first when he came home in a blistering 31 blows to win the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open by two strokes.
Kokrak closed with a five-under 65 to win on 10-under par from Kevin Tway (68) and Scheffler, who came home in one-over for a 69.
Final round scores & totals in the LPGA Pelican Women’s Championship, (USA unless stated, Par 70):
263 Nelly Korda 65 66 63 69 (won at the first extra play-off hole), Sei-Young Kim (Kor) 64 67 65 67, Alexis Thompson 65 64 65 69, Lydia Ko (Nzl) 67 66 64 66
266 Brooke Henderson (Can) 67 69 65 65
267 Jin-Young Ko (Kor) 68 66 67 66, Gaby Lopez (Mex) 66 67 68 66, Pornanong Phatlum (Tha) 67 66 67 67, Paphangkorn Tavatanakit (Tha) 68 65 64 70, Aditi Ashok (Ind) 67 71 65 64
268 Jeon-Geun Lee (Kor) 68 64 69 67, Jessica Korda 67 67 67 67, Caroline Inglis 68 70 64 66
269 Yuka Saso (Phi) 68 64 70 67
270 Albane Valenzuela (Swi) 69 68 69 64
271 Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 69 68 66 68, Yu Liu (Chn) 66 72 67 66, Ally Ewing 68 67 71 65, Wei Ling Hsu (Tai) 66 64 72 69, Christina Kim 65 66 65 75, Lauren Coughlin 65 68 68 70
272 Jennifer Kupcho 65 64 66 77, Amy Olson 69 66 72 65, Melissa Reid (Eng) 75 63 70 64, Xiyu Lin (Chn) 70 69 66 67, Lauren Stephenson 68 68 66 70, Maria Fassi (Mex) 67 65 68 72
273 Danielle Kang 65 67 70 71, Marina Alex 68 71 67 67, Ind-Gee Chun (Kor) 74 66 66 67, Leona Maguire (Irl) 62 68 68 75, Pavarisa Yoktuan (Tha) 68 67 70 68
274 Brittany Lincicome 68 70 68 68, Jaye Marie Green 69 66 68 71, Annie Park 68 69 69 68, Cheyenne Knight 70 68 69 67, Sarah Schmelzel 72 67 65 70, Madelene Sagstroem (Swe) 69 68 69 68, A-Lim Kim (Kor) 68 67 67 72
275 Nasa Hataoka (Jpn) 65 70 68 72, Katherine Kirk (Aus) 70 67 68 70, Jodi Ewart (Eng) 72 64 68 71, Ryann O’Toole 69 68 70 68, Giulia Molinaro (Ita) 70 69 68 68
275 Lindy Duncan 72 66 71 66, Isabell Gabsa (Ger) 70 69 67 69
276 Eun-Hee Ji (Kor) 71 68 68 69, Caroline Masson (Ger) 69 68 68 71, Esther Henseleit (Ger) 66 70 68 72, Jennifer Song 70 66 69 71, Stephanie Meadow (NIrl) 70 70 66 70
277 Brittany Altomare 67 69 71 70, Su-Hyun Oh (Aus) 68 64 73 72, Mi-Hyang Lee (Kor) 69 62 73 73, Alena Sharp (Can) 70 66 72 69, Matilda Castren (Fin) 67 64 72 74
278 Celine Boutier (Fra) 68 66 70 74, Ashleigh Buhai (Rsa) 71 66 68 73, Tiffany Chan (Hkg) 70 70 71 67
279 Lizette Salas 69 70 68 72, Azahara Munoz (Spa) 74 66 69 70, Pernilla Lindberg (Swe) 72 65 69 73, Emma Talley 70 70 71 68, Perrine Delacour (Fra) 70 69 68 72
280 Thidapa Suwannapura (Tha) 72 67 69 72, Wichanee Meechai (Tha) 69 68 69 74
281 Moriya Jutanugarn (Tha) 68 72 69 72
282 Nicole Broch Estrup (Den) 69 71 68 74, Ssu-Chia Cheng (Tai) 67 72 69 74
283 Som-Yeon Ryu (Kor) 73 66 69 75
284 Megan Khang 70 69 73 72, Kristen Gillman 71 67 72 74, Paula Reto (Rsa)
Final round scores & totals in the European Tour Aviv Dubai Championship, (Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 72):
265 Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 63 67 67 68
266 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 67 66 68 65, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 66 64 67 69
268 Min-Woo Lee (Aus) 67 67 66 68, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 65 64 69 70, Andy Sullivan 65 71 67 65, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 70 68 63 67
269 Thorbjoern Olesen (Den) 67 68 68 66, Pádraig Harrington 68 67 67 67, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 67 64 68 70, Sean Crocker (USA) 67 66 69 67, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 72 67 63 67
270 Tommy Fleetwood 66 66 68 70, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 67 65 69, Paul Waring 65 67 70 68, Scott Jamieson 69 65 70 66
271 Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 66 67 69, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 68 71 66 66
272 Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 69 67 69 67, Marcus Armitage 68 69 67 68, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 69 66 69 68, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 69 67 69 67, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 69 70 66 67
273 Chris Wood 71 68 65 69, Victor Perez (Fra) 70 68 70 65, Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 72 66 71 64, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 68 70 66 69, Robert MacIntyre 68 68 69 68, Jordan Smith 69 68 71 65, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 66 69 70 68
274 Paul Casey 68 68 66 72, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 70 69 64 71, Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 69 68 68 69, John Catlin (USA) 69 67 68 70, Callum Shinkwin 66 69 69 70, Romain Langasque (Fra) 69 68 68 69, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 67 70 69 68, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 69 69 66 70, Ashley Chesters 68 66 74 66, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 67 70 68 69, Robin Roussel (Fra) 69 64 72 69, Matthew Jordan 69 67 67 71, David Coupland 67 69 67 71
275 Dean Burmester (Rsa) 65 68 71 71, Daniel Gavins 69 70 70 66, Sam Horsfield 67 67 69 72, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 68 68 70 69, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 67 70 66 72, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 70 67 70 68, Jack Senior 70 66 70 69
276 Niklas Lemke (Swe) 67 67 69 73, Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 67 72 70 67, Grant Forrest 69 65 73 69, Oliver Farr 69 66 70 71
277 Justin Harding (Rsa) 70 69 69 69, Ignacio Elvira (Spa) 69 69 68 71, Jonathan Caldwell 71 67 71 68, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 67 71 70 69
278 Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 69 67 73 69, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 66 71 70 71
279 Stephen Gallacher 70 69 67 73, David Law 70 69 69 71
281 Jorge Campillo (Spa) 71 64 76 70
282 Sami Valimaki (Fin) 71 68 70 73, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 70 66 72 74, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 69 70 72 71, James Morrison 68 70 75 69,
283 Joel Stalter (Fra) 71 68 75 69
286 Jeff Winther (Den) 72 66 71 77
