Andrew Landry lost a six-stroke lead and then won The American Express with birdies on the last two holes.
The 32-year-old Landry, who missed the cut in his last five tournaments and seven of eight this season, closed with a 5-under-par 67 to beat charging Abraham Ancer of Mexico by two strokes on the Stadium Course at PGA West https://www.pgawest.com in La Quinta.
Landry lost this tournament in a playoff with Jon Rahm of Spain two years ago.
“That (approach shot on No. 17) was probably the shot of the tournament for me,” said Landry, whose only other PGA Tour victory came in the 2018 Valero Texas Open. “Just to be able to go over there and, to that right hole location, and just hold one up and hit a good distance and have a seven-footer to look at. … Thankfully, it went in and kind of made 18 a little bit easier.
“This is a golf course that has suited me very well in the past. And just to look back on some of the things that happened a couple years ago and then now, just to be able to finally get it done. I didn’t want to have to go back into a playoff again and we’re running out of daylight, so it’s good to finally get the job done again.”
Landry built his lead to six with three straight birdies to start the back nine, but then carded three consecutive bogeys before righting the ship with that seven-foot birdie putt at No. 17 and followed with a six-footer on the last hole to finish at 26-under 262.
Ancer, coming off a strong showing in the Presidents Cup and two top-10 finishes earlier this season, posted a bogey-free 63 that equaled the low round of the day.
“All week, really, I hit the ball great off the tee and iron shots, and in the first three rounds, I feel like I didn’t score as low as I should have for how good I hit the ball,” said Ancer, whose score equaled the Stadium Course record. “But stayed patient and today the putts started to fall in.
“I wasn’t paying much attention to the leaderboard, and then that’s when I noticed and I was like, ‘All right, well, we got to make two other birdies.’ I made the putt there on 17 (to tie for the lead), which was big, and then just couldn’t make it happen on 18. But I played good, man. I’m proud of how I played.”
Rookie Scottie Scheffler, who shared the lead after the second and third rounds, sank a six-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole and totaled 70 finish three shots back in third, recording his fourth top-10 finish of the season.
Bud Cauley made two late birdies to shoot 65 and finished six down in a tie for fourth with Sepp Straka of Austria, who carded a bogey-free 66, while Sam Burns equaled Ancer’s 63 and wound up one more back in a tie for sixth with Tom Hoge, who had a 67, Sebastian Cappelan of Denmark, who shot 68, and Ryan Moore, who finished at 69.
Rickie Fowler of Murrieta, who shared the 36-hole lead, managed only a 71 and was eight strokes behind in a tie for 10th with Grayson Murray, who totaled 66, Sungjae Im of South Korea, who had a 68, and Andrew Putnam of Pepperdine, who came in at 69.
For complete results, visit https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html
