



NAPLES, Fla. >> Patty Tavatanakit holed a 25-foot birdie putt and Jake Knapp gave them the lead on the next hole with a tough pitch to set up birdie as the UCLA duo combined for a 7-under 65 on Sunday for a one-shot victory in the Grant Thornton Invitational.
They won on their respective tours on the same day this year — Knapp at the Mexico Open, Tavatanakit at the Honda LPGA Thailand — and were equally impressive as a team, especially down the stretch at Tiburon Golf Club.
Jeeno Thitikul, who won the LPGA finale at Tiburon last month for the $4 million prize, holed an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole as she and Tom Kim shot 64 to finish alone in second.
Colorado’s Jennifer Kupcho and her partner Akshay Bhatia made a mess of the 18th hole for their lone bogey in the modified fourballs format and finished third.
The final hour could have gone to any four teams — the Canadian tandem of Corey Conners and Brooke Henderson shot 62 and were briefly tied for the lead, though running out of holes.
Knapp and Tavatanakit, who started with a two-shot lead, fell behind for the first time all day when Bhatia holed a 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 17th.
The format had each player hit tee shots, switch balls for the next shot and then complete the hole. Knapp’s tee shot on the par-3 16th climbed onto the green, and Tavatanakit poured in the left-to-right breaking putt for birdie to tie the lead.
“I putted well this week,” Tavatanakit said. “Everything has been fun. The chemistry has been really good.”
Both were out of position off the tee at the easy 17th, with Knapp in the water. Taking the tee shot of Tavatanakit, he hit from the native area to short of the green into a slight swale. His pitch settled 3 feet away for birdie and a one-shot lead over Bhatia and Kupcho.
Ahead on the 18th, Bhatia’s approach came up woefully short and into the water. Kupcho missed her approach to the right, and her putt ran down a slope about 10 feet by. Bhatia tried to play twice from the water. Kupcho missed her par putt.
That gave the UCLA tandem a two-shot lead, and a simple par put them at 27-under 189. Each collected $500,000 from the $4 million purse.
Kim and Thitikul finished in second place.
Norris wins Alfred Dunhill>> Shaun Norris came from behind to win the Alfred Dunhill Championship in his home country by a single shot on Sunday in Malelane, South Africa.
Norris was six shots off the lead entering the final round but hit a 5-under 67 at Leopard Creek Country Club that gave him a 13-under 275 total. Norris overcame a double bogey on the par-three seventh to claim his second win on the European tour.