Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 28, 2022, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE C5 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM C5MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2022 SPORTS I Straka storms from behind with Sunday 66, qualifies for Masters P ALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Sepp Straka is going back to Georgia in a few weeks. He’s headed to his first Masters, after pulling off a huge comeback to win the Honda Classic. Straka, down by five shots entering the final round, tapped in for birdie in the rain on the final hole and ended up beating Shane Lowry by one shot to become the first Austrian winner in PGA Tour history. He shot a 4-under 66 on Sunday to finish at 10 under and earn US$1.44 million. “The words aren’t really coming to me right now,” Straka said. “It’s just crazy. I really don’t know what to think.” He sure knew how to play. A first-round 71 was followed by a 64 on Friday, 69 on Saturday and then 66 on Sunday. He was 4 under in his final 10 holes, 3 under over the final five, finishing with a flourish while most others sputtered. “It’s hard to win out here,” Lowry said. “It’s just hard. End of story. There is no point saying any different.” Lowry shot his third consecutive round of 67, finishing the week 9 under. First-round leader Kurt Kitayama (68) was alone in third at 8 under, and Daniel Berger — who led by six shots with 19 holes left in the tournament — simply fell apart Sunday, his round of 74 leaving him 7 under for the week and three shots behind Straka. “Just a poor round,” Berger said. “It can happen at any time. I’m not going to dwell on it too much. Just didn’t hit quality shots at the right time. Proba- bly would’ve had a chance to win if I made a few more putts. I don’t think I made a single putt today.” He didn’t. Berger made two birdies Sunday — both chip-ins, one from the sand, one from a grassy slope. Lowry needed to make a 45-footer for birdie on the final hole to force a playoff. It missed, and with that, the Honda had a new champion — one who came into the week ranked No. 176 in the world, has never been higher than No. 129 on that list, and whose claim to fame as a pro probably was being the first-round leader at the Tokyo Olym- pics last summer. He’s a PGA Tour winner now. And Straka — who played his college golf at Georgia — will play the Masters in April. “It’s crazy. It’s a lifelong dream of mine just to be heading to Augusta in a month or so,” Straka said. “It’s still surreal.” Straka matched the biggest come- from-behind win this season. Luke List was also down by five entering the final round at San Diego last month. Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., had an outside chance of competing for the title but his 73 in the final round — with three bogeys on the back nine and a double bogey on the par-3 15th — put him well out of contention. Svens- son finished at 2 under. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., had the best round of the five Canadians who made the weekend cut. His 67 saw him climb the leaderboard into a tie for 16th at even par. Taylor Pendrith (69) of Richmond Hill, Ont., was tied for 25th at 1 over. Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., shot a 74 after three consecutive rounds of 70. Roger Sloan (73) of Mer- ritt, B.C., was at 5 over. The undoing for Berger began Saturday when he went to the 18th tee with a six-shot lead, then made bogey. Still, the five-shot lead through 54 holes matched the biggest in Honda history and for a hometown guy — his home is 15 minutes from PGA National — the ingredients were there for a memora- ble win. Sunday had different ideas. He was paired with Lowry for the final round, and it didn’t take long for everything to change. Lowry made birdie on the first; the lead was down to four. Berger put a tee ball into the pine straw on the par-5 third, then had a ball buried in the sand of a greenside bunker and made double-bogey 7 to see the lead trimmed to two. Lowry tapped in for birdie at the fourth. Lead down to one. Berger bo- geyed the fifth. The lead was gone. And when Berger missed a 15-footer for par at the sixth, Lowry was suddenly up by one. “Didn’t play well, so I didn’t win the golf tournament,” Berger said. Straka was in the group five shots back to start Sunday, then missed a 2-foot par putt and made bogey on the opening hole. But slowly and steadily, he clawed back — a birdie on the par-4 ninth got him to 7 under, followed by another birdie on the 14th. A 20-footer on the 16th pulled him into a tie. That’s when weather decided to show up, too. As if the finish needed more drama, it simply started pouring as the final groups were finishing. Kitayama and Straka got a fortunate break, getting to play their tee shots on 18 before the rain started. The sudden downpour came in fast, and both camped out on the 18th fairway under their umbrellas before playing their second shots into the par-5 finishing hole. Each hit to about 50 feet and set up eagle putts. Straka two-putted, then waited to see if Lowry — who rushed into a poor tee shot during the down- pour on 18 — could get to 10 under. He couldn’t. And Straka is on his way back to Georgia. “That bad weather came in just as we were hitting our tee shot on 18, which was as bad a break as I’ve got in a while,” Lowry said. “Yeah, it’s a tough one to take.” — The Associated Press APHOTOS BY MARTA LAVANDIER/ASSOCIATED PRESS Sepp Straka embraces his first PGA Tour trophy Sunday in Florida after finishing at 10-under-par at PGA National. TIM REYNOLDS Third-round leader Daniel Berger can’t believe another putt has failed to drop. Jimenez jugs second ace of tourney, wins in Tucson TUCSON, Ariz. — Miguel Angel Jimenez felt the breeze coming out of the right, saw the pin on the left and pulled out his 6-iron. With his shot shape and the hole location, the sweet-swinging Spaniard thought he might be able to get it close. Never did he expect to see a second hole-in-one in the same tournament. Jimenez holed the 6-iron on the 178- yard 14th hole for his second ace of the Cologuard Classic and closed with a 7-under 65 on Sunday for his second win in three PGA Tour Champions starts this season. “I hit a beautiful 6-iron, it went at the hole and, ace,” said Jimenez, wearing the traditional conquistador’s helmet awarded to the winner. “You never think about it. You know you want to hit a good shot and put it as close as possible.” Jimenez started the final round with a two-shot lead and got off to a birdie-ea- gle start at Tucson National. Reigning Charles Schwab Cup champion Bern- hard Langer cut the lead to three with a birdie on the par-5 12th, but Jimenez followed with one of his own in the group behind. The 58-year-old Spaniard ended any hope of a late rally with his ace to match the one he had at No. 7 in the open- ing round. Jimenez closed with four straight pars to finish at 18-under 198 and win for the 12th time on the PGA Tour Champions. Langer shot 65 to match Woody Aus- tin (66) at 14 under. Jerry Kelly finished fourth after a 70 put him at 11 under. “Pretty good when you make two holes-in-one in the same week,” Austin said. “There’s four shots right there.” Jimenez won the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii and was fifth last week at the Chubb Classic in Florida. He opened the Cologuard Classic with a 66, thanks in part to his ace, and overcame two closing errant drives to shoot 67 in the second round. Jimenez shot 4-under 32 on the front nine in his final round and bounced back from a bogey on the par-4 ninth — he hit behind a trailer left of the fairway — by getting up and down for birdie just short of the par-5 12th. The European Tour record holder with 10 aces, Jimenez celebrated his lat- est hole-in-one by raising his arms and doing a little shimmy. He then walked arm-in-arm with Kelly onto the green. Tim Petrovic had two aces in last year’s Cologuard Classic. Jimenez closed with an easy two-putt par for the victory. He finished fifth here last year. “I’ve been there several times here, been close the last couple of years I have played this tournament,” he said. “My game was very good, solid.” Langer made an early run in his bid to win consecutive starts on the over-50 tour, pouring in four birdies over his first six holes. The 64-year-old German had three birdies on his back nine and saved par on No. 18 after hitting his drive into the water. — The Associated Press Miguel Angel Jimenez AS his fight nears, Viktor Postol typical- ly takes comfort in words of encourage- ment from his wife, Olga. “She’s always supported me mental- ly through the hard times of making weight, and then saying all the right things I need to hear in getting me ready to fight,” said Postol, a former 140-pound world-champion boxer. But now, Olga is sheltering with the couple’s 5-year-old twin sons, Timofey and Lukyam, in Brovary, Ukraine, less than 10 miles outside the nation’s Rus- sian-targeted capital of Kyiv. The subject of Postol’s critical Satur- day night bout in Las Vegas never came up when they spoke a day earlier. “Now it’s reversed. I’m just thinking of her,” Postol told USA Today Sports+. “I have spoken to my family every day since I’ve been gone. They miss me so much. They cry every day.” Postol, 38, is scheduled to face rising 140-pounder Gary Antuanne Russell (14-0, 14 KOs) in a super-lightweight bout at 9 p.m. CT on Showtime. When Postol left home to train in Southern California, he cast Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats of an invasion to take out the democratic lead- ership of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as rhetoric. Now, tanks have rolled across the Ukrainian border and bombs have fall- en, leaving more than 100 countrymen dead and more than 100,000 fleeing. Russian troops also crossed from Ukraine’s border with Belarus, 80 miles from the Postol home. Postol has opted to divert his attention from television news coverage so he can deal with his career duties at hand. He was shattered hearing Olga sob heavily over the phone Friday evening. “Just wait, and pretty soon, I’ll be home and I’ll take care of all of you,” Postol told his wife. He explained, “Obviously, I’m praying and hoping God will help and protect the Ukraine. We didn’t start this, and we don’t want war.” The implications of Postol’s bout are immense. A win lifts him back to title contention, but defeat could sway him toward retirement. All of that pales in comparison to what his wife, children and country are enduring. Postol isn’t even sure how he’ll get home. “I’m figuring that out right now,” he said. Since he can’t board a flight directly to the Ukraine, he’ll pursue traveling to Romania. The original plan was to get a car there and drive home, but news coverage has revealed the peril in attempting that journey. “I don’t know how I’ll drive there be- cause we’ve heard so many bridges and roads have been bombed,” Postol said. “I’ve heard the trains are running. Even if they aren’t, I’ll walk. I will get back to the Ukraine!” Postol’s relentlessness has defined his career. He won the World Boxing Coun- cil 140-pound belt in 2015 by stopping the intimidating heavy puncher, Lucas Matthysse. He then went the distance in defeat against two of the sport’s top-10 pound- for-pound fighters, unbeaten welter- weight champion Terence Crawford and unbeaten and undisputed 140-pound champion Josh Taylor of Scotland. A narrow majority decision loss to then-two-belt-champion Jose Ramirez in August 2020 moved Postol (31-3) here: the expectation he will test but yield to the gifted 25-year-old southpaw from Capitol Heights, Maryland. “Yes, I know if I lose, I’ll go home and who knows what will happen to me?” Postol said. “But don’t make me retire sooner than I want. I’m still a fighter. I still have that fire.” Postol will carry the Ukrainian flag to the ring Saturday night, doing his best to tend to his job but so eager to realize his dream of reuniting with his family as war rages. In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko, the former heavyweight champion, has been joined by his ex-heavy- weight-champion brother, Wladimir, in defense of their nation. Ukraine’s three- belt heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk, is also positioned to fight back the invaders. Postol vows to reach them. “I’m going to get there, to walk into my home and then know my family is safe because I will be there with them,” Postol said. “We will not leave Ukraine. That is our country. We will stay there, and we will be safe.” — USA Today Ukrainian boxer vows to find way home to wife, twins in war zone LANCE PUGMIRE C_05_Feb-28-22_FP_01.indd 5 2022-02-27 10:29 PM ;