PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Webb Simpson navigated his way through a few mistakes but not too much stress to win The Players Championship on Sunday.

Staked to a seven-shot lead, no one got closer than four shots of Simpson, even after a double bogey on the 18th hole when his only concern was finishing the hole. He closed with a 1-over 73 for a four-shot victory and his biggest win since the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic Club.

Tiger Woods made another big run. So did Jason Dufner, Jimmy Walker and Danny Lee. None could do enough to catch Simpson during record scoring in the final Players Championship in May.

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Justin Thomas shot a 66 and tied for 11th, which was more than enough to move to No. 1 in the world.

SCIACCA, Sicily (AP) Joakim Lagergren of Sweden won his first European Tour title with a dramatic playoff victory over Mike Lorenzo-Vera at the Sicilian Open on Sunday.

Lagergren birdied the first extra hole at Verdura Golf Club after he and overnight leader Lorenzo-Vera had finished tied on 16 under par.

”I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole career,” said the 26-year-old Lagergren. ”I’m so relieved and I’m so happy at the moment, I can’t describe it in words. I’ve just been fighting so hard to get to here, it’s just awesome.

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”When you’re just missing out a few times you really want to get that first win … This is a big step for me.”

Lorenzo-Vera began the day with a two-shot lead but he could only card a final round 70 and recorded his second consecutive runners-up finish after losing out in the final of GolfSixes alongside Romain Wattel last week.

Lagergren made four birdies in his first nine holes to shoot 68 and finish level with the Frenchma..

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka began The Players Championship wondering if his wrist would allow him to play. He finished it Sunday with an albatross on the par-5 16th hole and a 9-under 63 to tie the course record.

Koepka had 208 yards on the 16th hole when he opted for a three-quarter shot with his 6-iron. It started a little more right than he wanted, right on line. The ball took one hop and disappeared into the cup for a 2.

It was the second albatross in two years on the 16th hole at the TPC Sawgrass.

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”I couldn’t tell where it hopped,” Koepka said. ”Everyone started screaming. The roars kept going, so we figured it went in. It was a hell of a shot.”

That wasn’t all.

He followed with a wedge into 4 feet on the island-green 17th for birdie – Koepka hit two in the water on the par-3 17th on Friday to make quadruple-bogey 7. And then he narrowly missed a 12-foot birdie chance on the final hole for the record.

As for his ..

Victor DecolongonKobe Bryant's career resume, and penchant for hitting the clutch shot, makes him one of the greatest to ever play basketball. He's a five-time NBA champion, a two-time Finals MVP, an 18-time All-Star and ranks third on the all-time scoring list. No one would have an issue with putting him among the top 15, or 10 NBA players of all time, it's when you get into top-five territory that it becomes an actual debate.
Kobe diehards, and Bryant himself, would lead you to believe that he's the greatest player ever. Most with a functioning brain know this is not the case, especially considering Michael Jordan and LeBron James both play(ed) the sport. Bryant is one of the greatest pure scorers ever, no matter how many shots it took him to get there. If you were starting a team though, nine out of 10 people are taking LeBron, and the 10th person's opinion immediately holds no value going forward.
Don't tell that to the always confident Kobe, who rando..

Webb Simpson spends the last days with his dying father, Sam, remembering their bonds through golf and life

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Jordan Spieth finished with a flurry, leading to his best score at The Players Championship in 13 rounds.

Hardly anyone noticed.

Fan favorite Tiger Woods garnered most , if not all, the attention while Spieth was shooting a 7-under 65 in the third round Saturday. Woods and Spieth, playing a few groups apart, tied for the lowest score of the day.

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Both made huge leaps up the leaderboard, although more people witnessed Woods’ run.

Woods did most of his damage on the front nine. Spieth made his move on the back with six birdies, including at each of the final three holes. Spieth needed just 24 putts to get around the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

”If you don’t miss a putt inside of 15 feet, golf is pretty easy,” Spieth quipped. ”But when you are making half of them, like I was the first round, then it’s a harder game. So I felt like I had the freedom in the stroke. I didn’t feel like I had to force anything. You ask, `Why don..

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Webb Simpson isn’t aware of the records he has tied or broken at The Players Championship. He saw that Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth each made a big charge before he teed off Saturday, and it didn’t rattle him at all.

”I think it helped me a little bit continue to think about making birdies,” he said.

Simpson had a plan and didn’t back off until he holed an 18-foot par on the final hole for a 4-under 68. He stretched his lead to a record seven shots, tied Greg Norman’s 54-hole score at The Players that had not been touched in 24 years and left himself one more round to capture the richest prize in golf.

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Simpson started with an 8-foot birdie. He holed a 100-foot bunker shot for eagle.

And that island green on the par-3 17th that ruined his bid for the record score at the TPC Sawgrass the previous day? With a front pin in the bowl, he hit sand wedge and listened to thousands of fans surrounding the green cheer as the ball tric..

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Tiger Woods turned in his best round of the season and his lowest score ever at The Players Championship.

It propelled him up the leaderboard.

Staying there might prove difficult considering the favorable scoring conditions at TPC Sawgrass.

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Woods shot a 7-under 65 in the third round Saturday, besting his previous low score on the Stadium Course by a stroke. He honed in his iron shots, fine-tuned his putter and was so hot through 12 holes that it looked like he might challenge the course record.

”I wish I could repeat it more often, but honestly it was just a better start,” Woods said. ”I got off to a much better-quality start.”

Woods took advantage of warm weather, soft greens and little wind by making birdies at three of the first four holes . He drained putts of 15, 5, 10 and 17 feet, regaining a scoring touch that eluded him last week at the Wells Fargo Championship and in the opening two rounds in Ponte Vedra Beach.

”E..

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Mackenzie Hughes had not felt the jangled nerves and pressure to perform since he won his first PGA Tour event as a rookie 18 months ago. But this was Saturday morning. Breakfast was still being served in the clubhouse. He was 14 shots out of the lead at The Players Championship.

And he was playing with Tiger Woods.

”To be in an environment like that really gets your juices going,” Hughes said. ”It’s 90 degrees, but I can assure you I had some goose bumps and shivers at times when you hear some of the roars and you realize, `I’m playing with Tiger Woods.” It was fun.

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Woods made it even more memorable with his best round at the TPC Sawgrass, and his lowest score the end of the 2015 season. Woods opened with eight birdies in 12 holes until his momentum slowed and he settled for a 65.

Hughes, who had missed 12 of 15 cuts this season, overcame a rough start with four straight birdies in the middle of his round and a 68.

Woods m..

SCIACCA, Sicily (AP) Mike Lorenzo-Vera of France hit a stunning 8-under-par 63 to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Sicilian Open on Saturday.

Lorenzo-Vera fired an impressive 64 in high winds on Friday and he went one better, hitting eight birdies – including three in a row – to reach 15 under and put himself in pole position for a first European Tour title.

”If I bring the good game, I can win for sure,” Lorenzo-Vera said. ”If someone just doesn’t go crazy and shoot 10 under … if it’s good weather, I’ll have a really good chance.”

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Countryman Julien Guerrier, who led overnight with Lucas Bjerregaard of Denmark, signed for a 67 to slip two shots behind along with Joakim Lagergren of Sweden, who also carded a 63.

Bjerregaard was one shot further back after starting his third round at Verdura Golf Club with a double bogey but fighting back to produce a 68.