Weekend winners: Second straight win for Dustin and Jaidee on top in Paris

PGA Tour: WGC-Bridgestone Invitational – Dustin Johnson

Two weeks after getting the Major monkey off his back Dustin Johnson recorded his third WGC victory.

A second 66 got the job done though it owed much to Jason Day’s late wobbles – the Australian saw his par putt horseshoe out at 15 before making a real mess of the next hole. After a hooked tee shot he then fired one across the fairway only to get a free drop after his ball was interfered with. But he failed to take advantage of his good break, finding the hazard before eventually writing down seven.

Up ahead Johnson was making a third birdie of his back nine at 17, the same number as he recorded on the front, before finding some woodwork of his own at the last. But he kept his head, made bogey and that was good enough as Jason Day and Scott Piercy were unable to close the gap – Piercy did birdie the last to take second spot while Day bogeyed to share third with Jordan Spieth, Matt Kuchar and Kevin Chappell.

This was Johnson’s seventh appearance at Firestone, his previous best was 15^th – how things are changing for the big-hitting Major champion.

 

What Johnson said: “I definitely drove it better than I have in years past, and around this golf course it’s very important to drive it well. The fairways are narrow and the rough is deep. The driver was definitely the biggest improvement.

“When I first came on TOUR, I couldn’t hit a cut to save my life. I feel like my misses, I can get it in the fairway. With the draw, if I missed it, it had zero chance of it going in the fairway. Hitting a cut gives me room for error.”

 

 

Jason Day makes a 7 at No. 16.

He's 2 back with 2 to play. #QuickHits https://t.co/0kesnjZUg2

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 3, 2016

 

European Tour: French Open – Thongchai Jaidee

The 46-year-old went bogey free 39 holes to win by four shots (he bogeyed the 72^nd hole) and claim his eighth title at the 100th Open de France.

The Thai star carded two 68s over the weekend to finish at 11 under with Francesco Molinari second after a pair of closing birdies, Rory McIlroy five back and Rafa Cabrera-Belloin fourth. Sharing fifth, in a week where double Ryder Cup points were available, were Martin Kaymer, Brandon Stone and Andy Sullivan.

The latter birdied 14, 15 and 16 but then finished bogey-treble-bogey seven at the last, the previous day he holed his approach at the 18^th.

Stone, Alex Noren, Callum Shinkwin and Richard Sterne earned their places at the Open Championship by finishing in the top 12.

But Jaidee was the chief governor in Paris and he now moves up to 9^th on the Race to Dubai standings. The victory also marks the first time that the European Tour has had seven Asian victories in the same season, with the 46-year-old also becoming the oldest winner in the tournament’s, beating 2010 champion Miguel Angel Jiménez by 58 days.

 

What Jaidee said: “I am very happy this is the biggest win of my career. I’ve been coming here many, many years, and I think especially this week with the centenary edition of the tournament, it’s a special week for me to win on one of the toughest courses we play. Everything is absolutely perfect.

“I’ve been coming here about 10 years, and I think this week the course is set up quite tough. The fairways are quite narrow and the rough is very thick. You have to hit the ball in play all the time, otherwise, if you keep it in play and you hit on the green and you hit a good one putt, you’re going to have a good chance to win the tournament. This week, for me, I had no problems at all. I hit the ball perfect, and kept it in play all the time.”

 

Game, set and match?

Thongchai five clear with three to play.https://t.co/vuh4dBcGfl https://t.co/bGjyQQIMsw

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) July 3, 2016

LPGA Tour: Portland Classic – Brooke Henderson

Three weeks after breaking her Major duck the 18-year-old Canadian made it back-to-back titles here. She joins Annika Sorenstam and Kathy Whitworth as the third player to defend and she did it by four shots over a back on-song Stacy Lewis.

Henderson went wire-to-wire after opening up with a 65 and she closed with a 71 to stay ahead of Mariajo Uribe who collapsed late on with a pair of double-bogeys to finish. Uribe eventually tied for fourth, Suzann Pettersen had a promising week ahead of the US Open with her third-place finish.

Uribe ran into trouble on the par-5 12th hole with a bogey while Henderson birdied, at the time the pair were level.

 

What Henderson said: “To repeat and try to defend a championship for the first time and be able to do it is, I think, a really big deal. Third win on the LPGA Tour is really cool.

“I didn’t really play my best, but I hit good shots when I needed to and got some good breaks, too. That’s always really nice. It was really tight all day until I looked at the scoreboard on 17 and saw that I was going to have quite a big lead going into the last hole. That was definitely very comforting. It was kind of a weird day of golf. I hit some really good shots and hit some really bad shots, but, like, it all worked out.”