Kenny Perry beat Brad Adamonis and Jay Williamson in a playoff to win the John Deere Classic and escape with his third victory in five starts after bogeying the 18th hole on Sunday.
Perry had a one-stroke lead at 17-under through 17 only to lose it thanks to some poor shots from the fringe on the final hole of regulation. He and Williamson then watched as Adamonis, the PGA Tour's oldest rookie at 35, missed an 18-foot putt for birdie that would have won it in regulation and given him his first victory.
The ball stopped three feet short and Adamonis was at 16-under 268 with the others.
While Adamonis and Williamson both hit approach shots into the pond on No. 18, Perry tapped in from 1 feet, 4 inches for par and the victory after his 24-footer stopped just short.
He picked the ball out of the cup and raised both arms, an ear-to-ear grin crossing his face.
He has reason to smile.
He's enjoying the best stretch of his career and collected $756,000 with his 12th victory. Perry (1-under 70), Adamonis (70) and Williamson (69) were one stroke ahead of Charlie Wi (69), Will MacKenzie (70) and Eric Axley (69) after 72 holes.
LPGA: Just like the last two weeks, Paula Creamer didn't play well in the final round of a tournament.
This time, she didn't have to.
Creamer shot a 2-over 73 and did just enough to make a big lead stand, going wire-to-wire to win the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic by two strokes.
"I learned you have to stay in your own world," Creamer said after capturing her seventh career win and third this year. "It doesn't matter what other people do until you're walking down the 18th fairway."
Two weeks ago, while near the top of the leaderboard at the U.S. Women's Open, she sagged to a 78 to finish in a tie for sixth. Last week at the tour stop in Arkansas, she had a 74 to fall out of contention.
Given another chance, she always seemed to come up with a clutch shot when most needed.
Asked what she was thinking as she approached the final green to a huge ovation, she said, "It's over!" Then she added, "You try to soak it up because you never know when the next one is going to be."
CELEBRITY: Rick Rhoden birdied the last two holes to win a record seventh American Century Celebrity Golf Championship, edging four-time champ Dan Quinn on the shores of Lake Tahoe where they've been rivals for 18 years.
Rhoden dropped a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th to shoot a 2-under-par 70 and total 68 points in the modified Stableford scoring system, one ahead of Quinn and four ahead of Tony Romo and Grant Fuhr at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course.
EUROPEAN: Graeme McDowell won the Scottish Open with three straight birdies on the back nine for a 3-under 68 and a two-stroke victory.
Phil Mickelson had a 73 and finished 11 shots off the lead in a tie for 38th.
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